Hong Kong cold snap kills one, temperatures plunging to 6.3 degrees Celsius on Lantau Island
- Authorities remind the elderly and those with chronic illnesses to take care as chilly weather expected to persist into the new year
The Hong Kong cold snap claimed one life on Sunday, after six people were sent to hospital with hypothermia, as the temperature dropped below 10 degrees Celsius in several parts of the city.
The Hospital Authority, which oversees the city’s public hospitals, said at 5pm on Sunday that the six, aged 50 to 90, had been treated for hypothermia in the previous 24 hours.
A source said a 90-year-old woman, who had been sent to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, in Chai Wan, had died.
The authority said one surviving patient’s condition was serious, while four others were stable.
By 6.30pm, temperatures were as low as 6.3 degrees on Ngong Ping, Lantau Island. Earlier in the day they had been as low as 4 degrees at Tai Mo Shan, Hong Kong’s highest peak. Similar lows were felt at Tate’s Cairn on Kowloon Ridge.
A winter monsoon weather system was bringing the cold to the city and neighbouring Guangdong province, the Hong Kong Observatory said. Chilly, windy weather was expected to persist over the week and into the new year, with some rain in store from Friday.
