A wave of infections with the Omicron variant of Covid-19 in Hong Kong has dealt a "hard blow" to the city's health system, which clings to its "zero Covid" strategy, the head of government said on Sunday February 13. , Carrie Lam.

The onslaught of the highly contagious Omicron variant, which caused the number of contaminations to explode, "dealt a severe blow to Hong Kong and exceeded the capacity to manage the city", acknowledged Carrie Lam.

>> To see, our Focus: "China: the 'zero Covid' policy at all costs"

Hong Kong's policy of hospitalizing any infected person, even asymptomatic, or isolating them in a quarantine center has resulted in overcrowding of the healthcare system and interminable waiting times.

As a result, hospitals have asked patients with few or no symptoms to stay at home while waiting for places to become available.

“The dramatic increase in the number of confirmed cases in recent days has lengthened the time it takes for people who test positive to be admitted to isolation centres,” said Carrie Lam, adding that the government “will spare no effort to put in place implement" the current "zero Covid" strategy.

First deaths in five months

Since the start of the pandemic, Hong Kong has adhered to mainland China's "zero Covid" policy of eradicating any outflow of infection through widespread testing, mass quarantines and extended social distancing measures.

But the appearance of Omicron in the territory at the end of December led to more than 8,300 new cases in just a few weeks, a considerable jump from the approximately 12,000 cases detected in almost two years.

Carrie Lam added that mainland China would help the city with its testing and quarantine efforts.

Last week, Hong Kong recorded its first deaths in five months.

About 50% of Hong Kong's population over the age of 70 is unvaccinated.

On Friday, researchers warned that by the end of March, the city could have up to 28,000 daily infections.

While since the start of the pandemic, Hong Kong has recorded a cumulative total of only 16,719 infections and 219 deaths.

With AFP

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