Hong Kong in ‘all-out combat’ to contain COVID outbreak with China support

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HONG KONG — Hong Kong is in “all-out combat” to contain a surge in coronavirus cases, the city’s number two official said on Sunday, with the ramping up of community isolation and treatment units helped by mainland Chinese construction teams.

With a reported 6,063 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, the government said in a statement that the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal would be turned into a dedicated COVID 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 units at Penny’s Bay close to the city’s Disneyland resort, said the initiatives would enhance the city’s anti-epidemic capacity “within a very short period of time.”

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In what was seen as a rebuke to the Hong Kong authorities’ handling of the spiraling outbreak, Chinese President Xi Jinping said fighting the virus must now 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, responded in a blog post on Sunday that the city’s “government has entered a state of all-out combat. In accordance with President Xi Jinping’s important instructions, to stabilize and control the epidemic as the overriding task.”

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.

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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, authorities are examining mandatory testing for its 7.4 million people.

China has sent epidemiologists, critical care experts and over 100 testing personnel to the city, as well as mobile testing vehicles, with authorities saying the outbreak could take up to three months to stabilize.

The conversion of public housing estates, rental of commercial hotels and indoor sport centers will add an extra 20,000 extra units for people who tested positive for COVID but had no or mild symptoms for isolation.

An election to choose the city’s next leader, initially scheduled for March, has been postponed to May, adding to uncertainty about the former British colony’s future as Beijing imposes its rule. (Reporting by James Pomfret, Twinnie Siu and Hong Kong Newsroom; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and William Mallard)