‘Best New Year’s gift’: Hong Kong welcomes first 4 babies of 2023
- First in line was Aden Chan, who was delivered at Union Hospital in Tai Wai at 12.43am
- Three others are another boy seven minutes after Chan, and two girls at 2am and 2.02am
Four Hong Kong babies were brought into the world on Sunday in the wee hours of 2023 as the city ushered in the new year free of Covid-19 curbs for the first time in three years.
Aden Chan Chun-yin, a boy born at Union Hospital in Tai Wai, weighed 2.97kg (6.5lbs) at birth and became the first baby delivered in the city on New Year’s Day at 12.43am.
Seven minutes after baby Aden was born, another boy weighing 3.54kg was delivered in Kwong Wah Hospital. Two girls were also born in Prince of Wales Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital at 2am and 2.02am respectively.
Sharing her excitement, Aden’s mother Fiona Chiu Sin-ting said she did not expect her third child to be the city’s New Year baby for 2023 as her due date was originally January 5.
“He is our best New Year’s gift. This will be our last child as we now have three. This is a great memorable moment,” the 35 year-old businesswoman said on Sunday. “I never thought my son could become Hong Kong’s first baby in 2023 … I was very surprised.”
Tens of thousands of Hongkongers bade farewell to 2022 at Victoria Harbour in Tsim Sha Tsui on Saturday night days after most pandemic rules, in place for three years under one of the world’s toughest Covid-19 regimes, were lifted.