7.5 million people live in Hong Kong. They are threatened with a lockdown because of the increasing number of corona.
According to a media report, the Chinese special administrative region of Hong Kong is considering a nine-day lockdown due to exploding corona numbers.
The government is expected to impose a “large-scale lockdown,” the South China Morning Post newspaper quoted a source familiar with the process as saying on Tuesday. The restrictions are therefore expected for nine days from mid-March, when a mass test of the entire population is to begin in the metropolis with a population of 7.5 million.
Every resident of Hong Kong should therefore be tested three times. According to the source, it is still unclear what exactly the lockdown should look like. Unlike in big cities on the Chinese mainland, where people are sometimes not allowed to leave their homes at all, a scenario is being discussed in Hong Kong in which supermarkets are open to buy groceries.
Tens of thousands of infections every day
After two years of largely successful prevention of the virus, the number of new infections in Hong Kong, which is pursuing a “dynamic zero corona strategy”, has reached new record levels in recent days. Tens of thousands of infections have recently been reported every day. The government’s corona strategy attracted more and more criticism.
Despite the high number of cases and often mild courses, the rules stipulate that all infected people be isolated in the hospital or special quarantine facilities, which many Hong Kongers find disproportionate. At the same time, experts criticized the low vaccination rate among older people, which is currently causing a relatively large number of deaths in this age group. The Beijing central government sent helpers to Hong Kong to use all means to contain the pandemic. dpa
