Hong Kong health officials said tighter social distancing restrictions could be considered if rising Covid-19 cases increase the pressure on the city’s medical system.
The financial hub reported 7,884 new Covid cases Wednesday, the highest number since the end of March and up from fewer than 5,000 a month ago. Increasing hospitalizations have put pressure on the health-care system, prompting hospitals to scale back non-emergency services and spurring the reopening of community isolation facilities.
Expanding virus-related restrictions would be seen as a step back for the international city, which has struggled to balance reopening its borders with mainland China’s conservative approach to the virus, known as Covid Zero.
“The current situation is on a rising trend. Of course we hope to conduct a targeted virus control approach, but we are very worried about the health-care system capacity,” health official Chuang Shuk-kwan said at a briefing Wednesday. “If the pressure on health-care capacity continues, the government—although unwillingly—can’t rule out the chance to tighten some social distancing rules, and that will impact more residents.”
While cases and hospitalizations are rising, the number of people who are seriously ill remains low, with 43 patients in critical conditions and 11 in intensive care as of Wednesday. Any return of social distancing measures would put Hong Kong even further away from other places, like finance-center rival Singapore, where nearly all pandemic restrictions including mandatory mask-wearing have been dismantled.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee—who was sworn into office on July 1—has pledged to restore the city’s global standing. Hong Kong has made tentative steps to ease some of the world’s toughest travel restrictions, including reducing the period of time visitors spend in hotel quarantine to three days from seven, but the city is still isolated given most of the world has scrapped all or most curbs.
With assistance from Jinshan Hong and Shirley Zhao / Bloomberg
Image credits: Bloomberg