Hong Kong leader 'deeply sorry' for long queues amid COVID surge (updated)

Television Broadcasts

10/02/2022 04:25

(Adds daily infection figure from media, details on testing,
restrictions)
    HONG KONG, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's leader, Carrie
Lam, has said she is deeply sorry and anxious about long queues
at coronavirus testing centres and isolation facilities after a
record number of new cases left authorities scrambling.
    Hong Kong's daily COVID-19 infections nearly doubled to a
record 1,161 cases on Wednesday as the global financial hub
battles a surge that is proving to be the biggest test of its
"dynamic zero" policy of virus suppression.
    The city is due to report 986 new infections on Thursday,
broadcaster TVB reported, citing an unidentified source.
    Writing on her official Facebook page on Wednesday night,
Lam said the government was working hard to enhance capacity and
that the fast-spreading infections, hitting places like elderly
care homes, were the last thing she wanted to see.
    "Citizens have to wait for a long time to receive testing
and a large number of people who have tested positive have been
waiting for a long time for isolation facilities," she said.
    "I am deeply sorry and anxious."
    Hong Kong has adopted a "zero-COVID" strategy, as has
mainland China, which entails suppressing all outbreaks as soon
as possible, in contrast with many other places that are trying
to "live with COVID", relying on high vaccination rates to bring
protection while easing restrictions.
    The fast-spreading Omicron variant is testing both
approaches though experts have said https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/whack-a-mole-experts-call-hong-kongs-zero-covid-policy-unsustainable-2022-01-28
 Hong Kong's strategy looks unceasingly unsustainable with cases
ballooning.
    Hong Kong has reported nearly 4,000 infections over the past
two weeks, up from just two in December, taking its tally to
more than 17,000 since the outbreak began in 2020, with 215
deaths, figures that are much are lower than those seen in other
major cities around the world.
    Authorities have responded to the latest surge with the
toughest suppression measures yet, despite an increasing social
and economic toll on the city's 7.5 million residents.
    Public gatherings of more than two people are banned from
Thursday while gatherings in homes have also been restricted.
The rules add to already strict measures that have forced
restaurants to close from 6.p.m. and shut most venues from
churches to schools, gyms and cinemas.
    About 200,000 people in the Discovery Bay residential area,
where many foreigners live, have been ordered to get tested
after the government said it detected coronavirus in sewage
samples.
    Typically, people are mandated to test if they have been in
an area where infections are detected, and big crowds have
thronged testing centres across the city in recent days.
    Lam said the city was not able to try to live with the virus
because more than 50% of the elderly have not been vaccinated.
    About 80% of the city's residents have had at least one
vaccine shot but many elderly people have been hesitant.
    Two people in their 70s died were the latest to die from
coronavirus, authorities said on Wednesday.

 (Reporting by Farah Master, Twinnie Siu and Marius Zaharia.
Editing by Gerry Doyle, Robert Birsel)
 ((farah.master@thomsonreuters.com; +852 3462 7709;))