Hong Kong working-class district reels as COVID runs rampant

HONG KONG — Lam Foon, 98, sits propped up and swaddled in soggy woollen blankets in a hospital mattress simply exterior the doorway to Hong Kong‘s Caritas Medical Heart, ready for checks to verify her preliminary optimistic end result for COVID-19.

“I don’t really feel so good,” she advised Reuters by a surgical masks, subsequent to a equally wrapped affected person carrying a masks and face defend.

Lam was certainly one of dozens of sufferers mendacity within the parking zone of Caritas on Thursday, after there was no extra room contained in the hospital that serves 400,000 individuals within the working-class district of Cheung Sha Wan on the Kowloon peninsula. Temperatures dipped to fifteen levels Celsius (59 Fahrenheit) amid some rain.

Medical workers have been unable to say how lengthy Lam must wait. Individuals who check preliminarily optimistic for COVID need to take additional checks earlier than therapy.

This and related scenes throughout the worldwide monetary hub are indicators of a public healthcare system beneath extreme pressure as COVID-19 instances surge, with greater than 95% of all hospital beds full.

As soon as largely insulated from the coronavirus pandemic, Hong Kong is dealing with a citywide outbreak, with companies buckling and a few dropping endurance with the federal government’s “zero COVID” insurance policies.

Within the cluster of working-class districts in close by Sham Shui Po, some residential blocks and public housing estates have been sealed off, crowds in malls and avenue markets have thinned, and as soon as teeming diners often known as dai pai dongs and stalls promoting knick-knacks are quieter after darkish.

Trevor Chung, 29, a medic at Caritas, blamed the federal government partially for insufficient planning, a scarcity of beds and different medical gear, and continual manpower shortages.

“The federal government underestimated the state of affairs,” mentioned Chung, clad in a full-face visor and blue hazmat swimsuit. “I anticipate issues to get lots worse … There are lots of aged individuals on this district, and plenty of aren’t vaccinated.”

Hong Kong authorities on Thursday apologised for the dire state of affairs at hospitals serving town of seven.4 million.

Town’s zero-COVID coverage has meant even asymptomatic individuals and people with delicate situations have been despatched to hospitals or quarantine facilities, though the federal government is now adjusting its technique because the healthcare system is overwhelmed.

Lam beneath stress

The outbreak has piled additional stress on Hong Kong chief Carrie Lam, whose five-year time period is because of finish in June.

Whereas Lam says surrendering to the virus “is just not an possibility” and Chinese language President Xi Jinping has mentioned the “overriding mission” for Hong Kong is to rein within the virus, some are skeptical.

READ: Xi tells Hong Kong’s leaders to manage COVID as infections spiral

“You possibly can see I’m carrying two masks. I want to guard myself as a result of the federal government gained’t defend me,” mentioned Lo Kai-wai, a 59-year-old logistics employee queuing at a cellular testing centre that had already reached its every day quota of three,000 individuals.

“I don’t need to see her (Lam) get a second time period.”

Some enterprise homeowners impacted by government-imposed restrictions additionally query the sustainability of present insurance policies.

“The federal government must discover a higher stability to each management the virus, but in addition to permit individuals to raised get on with their lives,” mentioned Timothy Poon, 23, the supervisor of a restaurant near the hospital, whose enterprise has dropped by as much as 60% amid the outbreak.

“The zero-COVID coverage is a mission unattainable.”

Others, nevertheless, are extra upbeat.

“If everyone seems to be prepared to get vaccinated, the state of affairs will enhance,” mentioned Lung Mei-chu, 78, at a testing centre in one other district.

—Further reporting by Joyce Zhou; Enhancing by Anne Marie Roantree and Karishma Singh