Posted
Article written by
/2021/12/14/61b8b98e077d1_france-2.png)
Hong Kong is facing the worst wave of Covid since the start of the pandemic. While the world seems to be regaining some semblance of freedom, the territory’s hospitals are saturated. In question, the late appearance of the Omicron variant, and a low rate of vaccination.
In Hong Kong, some hospitals are so saturated that patients are treated outside, lying on medical beds, huddled on survival blankets. Tents or screens are installed to isolate Covid-19 patients. The medical staff are exhausted, the patients worried. And the queues are getting longer to get tested. The fifth wave hitting Hong Kong is the most violent.
Since the start of the year, more than 32,000 Covid-19 patients have been registered, three times more than during the first two years of the pandemic. Hong Kong was, however, a good student: quarantine for all arrivals, tracing, isolation of the sick. A “zero Covid” strategy and controlled contagion, which perhaps explains why many Hong Kongers did not feel the need to be vaccinated. This is particularly the case for half of the over 70s.