Category Archives: Hong Kong

Hong Kong to test entire population of 7.5m for Covid in March

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Carrie Lam announces mandatory mass testing as virus surge threatens to overwhelm healthcare system

The entire population of nearly 7.5 million people in Hong Kong will have to undergo mandatory Covid-19 testing in March, the city’s leader has announced, as the territory grapples with its worst outbreak, driven by the Omicron variant.

Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, said the population would be tested three times in March, and the territory’s testing capacity would be boosted to 1 million a day or more. “Since we have a population of some 7 million people, testing will take about seven days,” she said.

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Hong Kong Covid surge is overwhelming hospitals, says leader

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Construction crews from mainland China will help build isolation units, Carrie Lam said

Hong Kong reported 15 coronavirus deaths and more than 6,000 confirmed cases for a second day in a surge the Chinese territory’s leader says its overwhelming hospitals.

The government announced plans to have construction crews from mainland China build isolation units with 10,000 beds after crowding at hospitals forced patients to wait outdoors in winter cold.

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Greta stands with Sami and Navalny on trial again: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

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A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Myanmar to Mexico

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‘No light at the end’: How Hong Kong’s Covid response went so wrong

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A policy of admitting every positive case to hospital means thousands are being added to an already huge backlog every day

The beds pile up outside Hong Kong’s Caritas hospital. In the cold night, elderly patients lie on gurneys covered with blankets and thermal foil sheets. A woman in pink folds her arms against the chill, while another reaches across her bed in an apparent gesture of comfort to a neighbour. Nearby, others crowd into yellow and blue spillover tents lining the car park edges. The hospital staff attend people calling out when they can but they are outnumbered. Wails from patients carry through the air.

There are similar scenes across the city, where 11 public hospitals were operating at or beyond capacity as of Friday. Private hospitals refuse to take Covid patients. Photos supplied to the Guardian show a treatment room inside one hospital earlier this week (88% capacity) with gurneys three deep across the thoroughfare, on a floor strewn with garbage. Bathrooms that no one has had time to clean were soiled with faeces, dirt and discarded biohazard bags.

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Fears of online censorship in Hong Kong as rights group website goes down

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UK-based Hong Kong Watch says outage could be part of wider Beijing crackdown

The website of a UK-based advocacy group appears to have become inaccessible through some networks in Hong Kong, raising fears of mainland-style internet censorship in the Chinese territory.

The group, Hong Kong Watch, which monitors human rights, said it worried the censorship could be a part of a wider crackdown on freedom of speech under Hong Kong’s national security law, which allows the police to ask service providers to “delete” information or “provide assistance” on national security cases.

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Hong Kong turns public housing into Covid quarantine facilities as it battles Omicron surge

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Fears that city struggling with 2,000 coronavirus cases a day could see daily figures reach 30,000

Hong Kong has turned newly built public housing and 10,000 hotel rooms into quarantine accommodation as authorities strive to control an Omicron outbreak that has overwhelmed the city.

Recent days have seen record daily highs of more than 2,000 cases, but experts have warned the outbreak could reach about 30,000 a day. Already hospitals, testing facilities, and isolation centres have been swamped, with local media publishing photos of spillover tents set up in hospital carparks.

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Coronavirus live: UK records 41,648 new cases and 35 Covid-linked deaths; French protest convoy reaches Brussels

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UK cases down 30% on the previous week, with weekly deaths down 27.2%; 500 French vehicles arrive in Brussels to protest against Covid measures

Sweden’s Health Agency recommended on Monday that people aged 80 or above should receive a second booster shot of Covid vaccine, the fourth jab in total, to ward off waning immunity amid the rampant spread of the Omicron variant.

The recommendation also covered all people living in nursing homes or who receive assisted living services at home. The second booster shot should be administered at least four months after the first booster jab, the agency said in a statement.

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Hong Kong fears food supply disruption as Covid hits drivers in worsening outbreak

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The territory imports 90% of its food and supply fears come as it battles its worst outbreak of the pandemic

Hong Kong authorities said supplies of vegetables and chilled poultry to the global financial hub may be temporarily disrupted after some mainland goods vehicle drivers preliminarily tested positive for Covid-19.

Hong Kong imports 90% of its food, with the mainland its most important source, especially for fresh food.

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Johnson receives ‘partygate’ police questionnaire – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

The Novavax Covid vaccine is available for Australians to receive, with the first person in the country getting the jab today.

Health minister Greg Hunt, giving a press conference at a medical centre in Melbourne, said with the new availability of Novavax there were “no excuses for anybody” not to get a Covid jab – alluding to people who had chosen to wait for this vaccine.

There are those that, for their own personal circumstances, have awaited or been unable to take the other vaccines. This is a new choice. It’s a protein vaccine ... a tried and tested vaccine platform.

I have preferred a traditional vaccine to be introduced into myself. I’m not anti-vax, I’m pro-choice, and this was my choice.

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Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam apologises for long Covid testing queues as new restrictions bite

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Apology comes as city enforces new measures including closure of hairdressers and addition of malls to vaccine pass system

Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, has said she is “deeply sorry and anxious” about the lengthy wait for residents to get tested or enter isolation facilities after a record number of new coronavirus cases left authorities scrambling.

Hong Kong’s daily Covid-19 infections nearly doubled to a record 1,161 cases on Wednesday as the global financial hub battles a rapid surge that could pose the biggest test yet of its “dynamic zero” policy.

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Covid live: Sweden scraps almost all restrictions and testing despite pleas from scientists; Spain’s King Felipe tests positive

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Sweden scraps almost all of its few restrictions and stops most testing; Spain’s King Felipe tests positive after displaying mild symptoms

Sajid Javid, the UK health secretary, has pledged to recruit 15,000 new health workers by the end of March to tackle the pandemic treatment backlog.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said the NHS planned “to recruit 10,000 more nurses from overseas and 5,000 more healthcare support workers by the end of March” to improve capacity.

“Remove your mask,” a man demands, as I walk through the crowd. When I say I would like to keep it on, he immediately asks if I’m from mainstream media. I reply that I am and he says “don’t twist the truth just because you’re on the government dollars”. He is not the only one demanding I remove the mask.

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As Hong Kong tightens Covid restrictions again, residents complain of being held ‘hostage’

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Large parts of the world are opening up, but Hong Kong is still pursuing ‘dynamic zero’ despite rising cases and a public running out of patience

A viral open letter from a member of Facebook group, HK Moms, marked something of a shift in public opinion. The group is the type not usually preoccupied with the city’s political upheavals, but the letter revealed a limit had been reached.

Addressing Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, it accused the government of holding its citizens hostage with new Covid measures – the toughest restrictions since June 2020.

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Covid live news: Canadian capital declares state of emergency over protests; Vietnam reopens schools after year-long closure

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Residents furious as protesters opposed to Covid-19 restrictions paralyse Ottawa; more than 17 million Vietnamese students due to return to school

Sajid Javid, the UK health secretary, has said he believes the NHS waiting list is going to grow even more due to 8-9 million people who have stayed away during the pandemic.

Speaking on Sky News, he urged those who have stayed away to “please come forward”.

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‘No light at the end of the tunnel’: Americans join Hong Kong’s business exodus

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Worsening Sino-US ties, strict Covid rules and the crackdown on dissent have dented the territory’s fabled allure as a business hub, say expats

In July 2018, Tara Joseph, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, wrote an article in the best-known local English-language newspaper, the South China Morning Post, stressing to Americans the territory’s unique position as an Asian business hub.

“The US is forgetting the differences between Hong Kong and China. Let’s remind them,” she wrote. “Hong Kong continues to have a robust and hearty infrastructure of values, practices and institutions that could not contrast more starkly with those of the mainland system.”

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Super corals: the race to save the world’s reefs from the climate crisis – in pictures

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Few corals are safe from warming oceans, a new study warns, but studies are finding surprisingly hardy corals, natural sunscreens and how coral ‘IVF’ can regrow reefs

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Kill the Bill and period protests: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

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A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Cambodia to Costa Rica

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New Hong Kong barristers’ chief warns profession to stay out of politics

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Victor Dawes says the group should build closer ties to mainland China amidst concerns about the rule of law

The newly elected leader of Hong Kong barristers says that his profession should avoid politics and build closer ties to mainland China, as concerns grow about rule of law in the financial hub.

The Hong Kong Bar Association has been a vocal defender of human rights and its previous leader had criticised a Beijing-imposed national security law, drawing fierce condemnation from Chinese officials.

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Covid news live: WHO recommends lifting international travel bans, says proof of vaccination not necessarily needed

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Blanket travel bans ineffective against Omicron spread, WHO says; Austria to introduce national vaccine lottery to encourage people to get jabs

Hong Kong will likely suspend face-to-face teaching in secondary schools from 24 January, local media reports.

The city’s Education Bureau made the announcement on Thursday, because of a rising number of coronavirus infections in several schools.

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Hong Kong to cull thousands of hamsters after Covid found on 11

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Authorities call for animals to be surrendered for ‘disposal’ after traces of virus detected at pet shop

Hong Kong has ordered thousands of hamsters be surrendered for “disposal” after traces of Covid-19 were found on 11 animals in a pet shop.

The order includes pets that were bought days before Christmas be handed over, with a warning not to “kiss or abandon them on the street” as Hong Kong and mainland China attempt to sustain a zero Covid strategy, attempting to suppress all outbreaks internally while maintaining tight border controls with the outside world.

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Covid created 20 new ‘pandemic billionaires’ in Asia, says Oxfam

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While wealthiest got richer, 140m people fell into poverty as jobs were lost, wiping out years of gains for poorest, report finds

Twenty new “pandemic billionaires” have been created in Asia thanks to the international response to Covid-19, while 140 million people across the continent were plunged into poverty as jobs were lost during the pandemic, according to Oxfam.

A report by the aid organisation says that by March 2021, profits from the pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and services needed for the Covid response had made 20 people new billionaires as lockdowns and economic stagnation destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of others.

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