Coronavirus Hong Kong: Carrie Lam signals major shift in fifth wave fight, vows to reduce deaths and severe cases
- As government revamps its priorities, city leader says universal testing will be postponed but no new date given
- Lam offers breakdown of latest efforts, including greater help for residents in care homes, supply of more hospital beds for cases and arrival of antivirals
Hong Kong’s leader emphasised on Wednesday the focus of her government’s pandemic strategy was now on reducing deaths and severe cases, signalling a dramatic shift from universal testing which she said would now be postponed to a date to be fixed.
On Wednesday, Hong Kong confirmed more than 58,000 new coronavirus cases, including 32,766 residents who logged their infections through a new online portal after using rapid antigen tests. The city’s tally of cases stood at 586,017, while the Hospital Authority recorded 195 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 2,869.
Just before 6pm, the government also sent out an unprecedented emergency alert via mobile phones in both English and Chinese informing residents about the conversion of Queen Elizabeth Hospital into a designated Covid-19 facility.
While Lam had previously revealed the mass screening would take place in March, at Wednesday’s press conference she refused to be pinned on a date. The exercise, which had triggered panic buying of groceries and medicines, would need considerable planning with a long lead time and “cannot be done overnight”.
“If it is not prepared with details and mobilised with all the resources, it is not possible,” she said.
“We will need to consider Hong Kong’s epidemic situation and whether we can achieve the best effect when starting this exercise,” Lam said. “We won’t do it for the sake of doing it, or do it to fulfil an order [from the chief executive]. It should be done to lead the city out of the pandemic.”
