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Hong Kong's COVID death rate (per capita) has risen to one of the highest in the world (see graph above), running nearly 3 times higher than the worst rate reported by the United States during the winter of 2021. This, despite dealing with a less severe Omicron variant.
While the actual number of deaths remains relatively small (n < 2,600), over the past week this city of just over 7 million people is seeing between 200-300 deaths a day.
Plans announced on February 22nd to conduct city-wide compulsory testing (every 5 to 7 days) during the month of March have yet to translate into an actionable program.
The logistics of pulling it off are enormous, public fears of a full lockdown during the testing period have resulted in runs on shops (see Reuters Hong Kong retail chains ration staples to curb COVID panic buying), and some experts have been openly critical of the plan (see RFI report Top Hong Kong Covid expert says mass-testing plan 'unhelpful').
The reality is, despite building numerous new quarantine and isolation facilities, the city doesn't have near enough capacity to handle the tens of thousands of additional cases (mostly asymptomatic) that would likely be detected during a city-wide testing program.
After announcing delays to allow for `planning', today Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam signaled that - while testing was still planned - city-wide testing was no longer `a priority'.
Chief Executive: All-people forced inspection is not a priority
March 9, 2022
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said the government was still planning and preparing for mandatory testing for all, but it was not a priority. Regarding the start-up time, the government will take into account the Hong Kong epidemic situation and expert opinions, and consider how to achieve the best results.
Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said at a press conference today that preparations for compulsory testing for the whole people depend on a detailed plan in advance, and the authorities are preparing to implement the manpower, location, resources, materials and other matters involved.
She said that the rapid antigen test is widely used at present, and it has been able to grasp the infection status of citizens. The national compulsory test aims to identify the remaining latent infections, so as to identify and isolate them as soon as possible, cut off the chain of transmission, and achieve the effect of ending the epidemic.
Carrie Lam emphasized that the implementation of compulsory national inspections may involve restrictions on citizens' entry and exit to a certain extent, but the government will ensure the operation of the financial industry, electricity, public transportation, etc., taking into account the daily lives of citizens.
She reiterated that there is sufficient supply of imported goods and fresh food in Hong Kong, and there is no need for the public to be anxious or panic buying.
Although the number of positive cases reported in Hong Kong has dropped in recent days, tens of thousands of positive home tests are not including in those numbers.
More than 20,000 confirmed cases of rapid testing reported more than 30,000 cases
March 9, 2022
There were 25,991 new positive nucleic acid test cases in Hong Kong, seven of which were imported cases, and 32,766 valid cases reported by the rapid test positive result reporting platform. The authorities have issued quarantine orders to the declarers.
Au Ka-wing, chief physician of the Infectious Diseases Division of the Centre for Health Protection, said at a briefing today that the fifth wave of the epidemic has recorded a total of 538,602 positive nucleic acid test cases and 34,784 rapid test positive cases.
In terms of residential care homes, 27 more residential homes have confirmed cases or outbreaks, involving 278 residents and 92 employees. A total of 710 residential care homes for the elderly and 237 residential care homes for persons with disabilities have had residents or employees infected with the virus.
Au Ka-wing said that 70 to 80% of residential homes in Hong Kong have had confirmed cases or outbreaks, but now only 20 to 30% of residents and staff are infected, and it has been more than two weeks since the discovery of cases in about half of the residential homes. Staff and residents are vaccinated against COVID-19 to protect them from infection.
With Mainland China increasingly anxious over this epidemic spilling back into their population - and their micro-managing of Hong Kong's response - there is an enormous amount of pressure on Hong Kong to bring this epidemic under control.
Meanwhile, China's National Commission continues to report improbably low, but slowly rising, COVID numbers. These numbers should be taken with a very large grain of salt, as China hasn't reported a COVID-related death in more than a year.
For what it's worth, today they report 337 new cases (104 imported).
Release time: 2022-03-09 Source: Office of Health Emergencies
From 0 to 24:00 on March 8, 31 provinces ( autonomous regions and municipalities) and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps reported 337 new confirmed cases . Among them, 104 imported cases ( 39 in Guangdong , 26 in Shanghai , 13 in Sichuan , 7 in Gansu , 6 in Guangxi , 5 in Beijing , 3 in Jiangsu , 2 in Fujian , 2 in Shandong , and 1 in Yunnan ), including 13 233 local cases ( 94 in Jilin, 73 in Jilin, 12 in Changchun, and 9 in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture ) ; 59 in Shandong , of which 55 in Qingdao2 cases in Rizhao City, 1 case in Zibo City, and 1 case in Weihai City ; 17 cases in Shaanxi , including 10 in Xi'an , 6 in Baoji, and 1 in Hanzhong ; 12 in Tianjin , including 11 in Xiqing District and 1 in Jinnan District. 1 case; 11 cases in Hebei, including 5 in Xingtai, 3 in Baoding , 2 in Shijiazhuang, and 1 in Cangzhou ; 11 in Jiangsu , all in Lianyungang; 7 in Guangdong , including 6 in Shenzhen and 1 in Dongguan 6 cases in Beijing , including 4 in Chaoyang District and 2 in Haidian District ; 4 in Yunnan , including 2 in Kunming and 2 in Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture ; 3 in ShanxiAmong them, 2 in Yuncheng and 1 in Jincheng ; 3 in Inner Mongolia , including 2 in Hohhot and 1 in Alxa League ; 3 in Shanghai , including 1 in Jing'an, 1 in Minhang, and 1 in Jiading ; Liaoning 1 case in Shenyang City; 1 case in Heilongjiang City in Harbin City; 1 case in Zhejiang Province in Huzhou City), including 13 cases converted from asymptomatic infections to confirmed cases ( 9 cases in Shandong, 2 cases in Shanxi , 1 case in Liaoning , Guangdong 1 case). No new deaths were reported. There were 15 new suspected cases , all imported from abroad (all in Shanghai).
