Hong Kong: Violent corona wave – is the hard lockdown coming?

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Hospitals at the limit
Hong Kong’s authorities are considering a tough lockdown after a violent corona outbreak

Hong Kong is experiencing the strongest corona wave since the beginning of the pandemic. A hard lockdown is not out of the question.

© TPG/ / Picture Alliance

Hong Kong is currently experiencing the most violent corona wave since the outbreak of the pandemic. The hospitals are at their limit, the pace of vaccination is stagnating.

Hong Kong authorities are now considering a tough lockdown based on the model of mainland China after a violent corona outbreak. A lockdown is still an option, said the health minister of the Chinese special administrative region, Sophia Chan, on Monday after Prime Minister Carrie Lam ruled out such a measure almost a week ago. Instead, Lam had ordered three mandatory corona tests for all 7.4 million residents in March.

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When asked whether a curfew was ruled out given the increasing infections with the omicron variant, Health Minister Chan told Commercial Radio: “No. We’re still talking about it.” In order for the tests to be effective, “people’s freedom of movement must be restricted to a certain extent”.

Hong Kong experiences violent corona wave

Residents should stay at home and avoid going onto the streets as much as possible, she said. The day before, the representative of the Chinese central government, Li Dachuan, had recommended a lockdown in similar words. He has been coordinating with the local authorities on how to deal with the pandemic in Hong Kong for some time.

Hong Kong is currently being hit by the most violent corona wave since the pandemic began. Thousands of new infections are reported in the financial metropolis every day, and the hospitals are on the verge of collapse. On Sunday, Hong Kong’s hospital administration revealed that hospitals are piling up with bodies as morgues are overcrowded.

Passengers on a subway train in Hong Kong

Hong Kong residents could face a tough lockdown.

© James May/ABACA/ / Picture Alliance

The “zero Covid” strategy decreed by Beijing, which has not resulted in any new infections for months, has not been effective in the special administrative region for several weeks. According to experts, the vaccination campaign in Hong Kong had been neglected during the long period without infections. Less than half of the population has had two vaccinations against the coronavirus.

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Since the beginning of the year, the authorities have recorded 193,000 infections and 636 deaths – in the first years of the pandemic, a total of 12,000 people were infected with the virus, and 205 had died from it. According to the authorities on Sunday, 91 percent of the patients who died from Covid-19 in the past few weeks were not vaccinated.

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The Serbian tennis star is fighting his deportation from Australia at practically the last minute after his entry visa was canceled. Lawyers for the world number one appealed against the visa withdrawal before a court in Melbourne on Thursday afternoon (local time), like the Australian news portal "The Age" reported. Accordingly, they were still gathering documents and should be heard by Judge Anthony Kelly later in the day. Djokovic traveled to Australia with a highly controversial medical exemption and landed in Melbourne late Wednesday evening (local time) to take part in the Australian Open. The tournament starts on January 17th. However, the Australian border protection authority refused him regular entry – and instead had the 34-year-old brought to a hotel for those who had to leave the country. Djokovic should start his journey home on Thursday.

Novak Djokovic

The Serbian tennis star is fighting his deportation from Australia at practically the last minute after his entry visa was canceled. Lawyers for the world number one appealed against the visa withdrawal before a court in Melbourne on Thursday afternoon (local time), as reported by the Australian news portal “The Age”. Accordingly, they were still gathering documents and should be heard by Judge Anthony Kelly later in the day. Djokovic traveled to Australia with a highly controversial medical exemption and landed in Melbourne late Wednesday evening (local time) to take part in the Australian Open. The tournament starts on January 17th. However, the Australian border protection authority refused him regular entry – and instead had the 34-year-old brought to a hotel for those who had to leave the country. Djokovic should start his journey home on Thursday.

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China is increasingly making decisions about how Hong Kong should respond to the virus. Mainland teams are building makeshift hospitals and isolation facilities for the infected. According to a report by the “South China Morning Post”, the central government’s advisers now also include the Chinese expert Liang Wannian, who was largely responsible for the two-month closure of Wuhan at the beginning of the pandemic.

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AFP

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