HK in 'all-out combat' as hospitals buckle under overflow

HONG KONG • Hong Kong is in "all-out combat" to contain a surge in coronavirus cases, the city's No. 2 official said yesterday, with the ramping up of community isolation and treatment units helped by mainland Chinese construction teams.

Scenes of people lying outside public hospitals in the rain and chilly weather have shocked many in the global financial hub, leading to an apology from the authorities.

Officials have now organised facilities to shelter patients amid a drop in temperatures as healthcare facilities are overwhelmed.

Officials reported 6,067 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, a day after the government announced that Kai Tak Cruise Terminal would be turned into a dedicated Covid-19 facility with 1,000 beds to mitigate overburdened public hospitals.

Hong Kong's embattled leader Carrie Lam, who attended a ground-breaking ceremony at a construction site for nearly 10,000 Covid-19 units at Penny's Bay close-to-the-city's Disneyland resort, said the initiatives would enhance anti-epidemic capacity in "a very short period of time".

In what was seen as a rebuke to the Hong Kong authorities, Chinese President Xi Jinping said fighting the virus must be their "overriding mission", in comments carried in the state-backed Ta Kung Pao newspaper on Wednesday.

Hong Kong's top civil servant John Lee said in a blog post yesterday that the city's "government has entered a state of all-out combat".

The global financial hub's "dynamic zero-Covid" policies, mirroring those in mainland China, have contributed to its current woes and are unsustainable, some experts say. The city's public hospitals have been severely stretched, struggling to cope with an influx of patients, including the elderly, many of whom have resisted vaccinations.

Health chief Sophia Chan said the government was considering tightening social distancing rules further. While the city has so far ruled out a city-wide lockdown, the authorities are examining mandatory testing for its 7.4 million people.

Yesterday's Covid-19 tally was slightly higher than Saturday's 6,063 cases, and the city reported 14 deaths. The city has recorded around 40,000 infections and fewer than 300 coronavirus deaths, far below other major cities. But some epidemiologists expect daily infections to approach 30,000 by the end of March.

China has sent epidemiologists, critical care experts and testing personnel to the city, as well as mobile testing vehicles, with the authorities saying the outbreak could take up to three months to stabilise.

A second team of 114 mainland health experts and workers - including four critical care medical specialists, four administrative staff members, and 106 sampling workers - arrived in Hong Kong on Saturday to help fight the outbreak.

REUTERS, XINHUA