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Hong Kong: The fifth corona wave is raging – China should help

2022-02-18T15:50:34.345Z


For the first time since the pandemic began, Hong Kong has had serious problems with Corona. The problem: Omikron encounters a population that is not sufficiently vaccinated. Now Beijing should help.


AreaRead the video transcript expand here

A sick bay before, not in a hospital.

Conditions that are long gone in other countries.

But Hong Kong is currently experiencing the fifth and first really violent corona wave.

More than 90 percent of hospital beds are occupied, which is already leading to bottlenecks in the healthcare system.

Nevertheless, Prime Minister Carrie Lam remains confident.

Carrie Lam, Hong Kong Prime Minister:


"This current fifth wave is undoubtedly a great challenge. But our capacities will definitely get us through this epidemic safely."

The big problem: Omikron is currently encountering a population that is not sufficiently protected: Not even a fifth of the inhabitants have received a booster vaccination, and many of the over 80-year-olds in particular have only been vaccinated once.

And so the numbers are growing exponentially.

In the first two years of the pandemic, Hong Kong had around 13,000 positive cases in total.

Now Hong Kong reported more than 6,000 infections on Thursday alone, plus more than 6,000 positive cases that have yet to be confirmed.

In order to fight back against the dramatic situation, Hong Kong is now accepting help from mainland China.

A group of experts arrived on Thursday to advise the government.

One option: mass testing, like on the mainland.

A decision on this is still pending.

Because the test capacities would have to be ramped up, and this is where the government in Beijing could and should help.

Carrie Lam, Hong Kong Prime Minister:


"Hong Kong has already been working hard to ramp up testing capacity. By the end of the month, 300,000 tests a day should be possible. But there are limits in terms of staff. We explained what we need and I did trust that the central government will respond directly."

Hong Kong residents are divided on the possibility of mass testing.

Joe Wong, Hong Kong resident:


“I hope mass testing will help.

Because if the mass tests work, Covid can be controlled.

I hope the virus can be eradicated.

If the government wants to do the mass testing, I will support it.”

Kenneth Liu, Hong Kong resident:


»People are mobile.

If the mass testing isn't done all at once, people will infect each other and testing won't do anything.

And if the government wants all citizens to be tested together, there will be long queues, like they are now.

Waiting in such a long line is a big problem for the elderly or sick.«

After all, the number of vaccinations is currently increasing.

But that will no longer help for the current wave.

And the experts do not expect a peak until the end of March.

So there are likely to be difficult weeks ahead for Hong Kong - with or without mass tests.


Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-02-18

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