Hong Kong: The situation in Hong Kong seems to be deteriorating due to the Coronavirus epidemic. It has come to such an extent that hospitals and public mortuaries are facing difficulties to keep the bodies of those who lost their lives due to Covid-19. The special thing is that most of the residents in Hong Kong have not taken the vaccine against the coronavirus. In view of the ever-increasing cases of infection, the officials have not ruled out the possibility of lockdown.
Tony Ling, head of the city’s Public Doctors Association, said dozens of bodies in the hospital’s accident and emergency rooms are waiting to be taken to mortuaries. He said, ‘Now more time is needed to collect these bodies, as the resources are very limited.’ He cited the workforce and storage capacity for the current situation.
Despite the increasing number of vaccinations recently, the number of people not taking the vaccine is high in Hong Kong. According to a Reuters report, many people have not been vaccinated due to fear of side effects and negligence. According to the government figures of 2020, an average of about 4 thousand people have died in Hong Kong every month. More than 1 lakh 71 thousand cases of Covid infection have been reported in the city.
Thoughts on lockdown
On Monday, 34,466 new patients infected with the coronavirus were found in Hong Kong, while the number of dead has also increased. After this, the health officials have not ruled out the possibility of imposing a lockdown. Earlier, Hong Kong leaders had called the lockdown unrealistic. Cases are increasing in Hong Kong mainly due to the ‘Omicron’ nature of the virus. Daily cases have increased four times in a week from 7500 earlier.
The Principal Medical and Health Officer of the city’s Health Protection Center told during the press conference that the cases are doubling every three days. He said, ‘We think the cases will continue to rise.’ On Monday, 87 people died in the city, of which 67 were not vaccinated against Covid. Health officials said that the government can implement such measures under which people are asked to stay at home.
Hong Kong’s Health Minister Sophia Chan said during a radio program on Monday that the government was discussing the possibility of a lockdown to reduce the movement of people and the ability to conduct large-scale investigations.
