Authorities in Hong Kong scrambled to try to control soaring COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, as plans for compulsory mass testing of seven million people appear to have been put on hold.
The city reported 195 new COVID-19-linked deaths in the last 24 hours on Wednesday, with an additional 25,991 new cases confirmed during the past 24 hours.
"As of 0.00am, March 9, a total of 2,656 deaths related to COVID-19 during the fifth wave (since Dec. 31, 2021) was recorded ... Hong Kong has so far recorded a total of 2 869 deaths related to COVID-19," the city's Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said in a statement.
"There is a continuous increase in the number of cases involving mutant strains that carry higher transmissibility," a CHP spokesman said. "With the higher transmissibility and risk of infection of the Omicron mutant strain, the CHP strongly appeals to the community to continue to comply with the social distancing measures, avoid going out and refrain from participating in unnecessary or crowded activities or gatherings (particularly religious or cross-family activities and gatherings)."
The high death rate is likely linked to relatively low levels of vaccination in the city, which has only offered its residents Chinese-made vaccines to date, amid growing calls for imported vaccines to be on offer as well.
Former public doctors' union leader Arisina Ma, now based in the U.K., said the Hong Kong government had mostly offered inactivated vaccines for COVID-19, for which immunity had waned considerably in recent month.
She said the high death rate in Hong Kong is definitely due to low uptake of vaccinations.
"I know some people were worried that mRNA vaccination could affect their genes, but there are two other vaccines on the market that are recombinant protein vaccines, made by Novavax and Medigen of Taiwan, yet the Hong Kong government has never imported them," Ma said. "These vaccines can be stored between six and eight degrees C, yet they just insist on sticking with those two [Chinese-made] vaccines."
"How are they going to break through public reluctance if they don't offer a different vaccine?"
Preparing beds
Tony Ko, chief executive of the Hospital Authority, said the authorities are switching over large numbers of hospital beds to designated COVID-19 wards.
"Our target is to convert about 50 percent of all our inpatient beds at general hospitals to be able to accommodate COVID patients," Ko told a news conference on Wednesday. "The other major initiative is to arrange some hospitals to be designated hospitals."
North Lantau and Tin Shui Wai hospitals have already been converted to COVID treatment centers, while Queen Elizabeth Hospital will soon follow suit, Ko said.
The government is also rushing to build facilities for COVID-19 patients, Reuters cited drone footage as showing, after a temporary bridge was laid linking the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen to Hong Kong.
"Drone footage over the rural Hong Kong district of Lok Ma Chau close to the border with China showed ... dozens of makeshift tents and a steady stream of trucks taking materials across the new bridge were also visible as building at the site ramps up to construct a temporary hospital with 1,000 beds and quarantine facilities for 10,000 people," the agency reported.
A top Chinese health official warned on Tuesday that the city's health system was at risk and the situation had to be turned around as soon as possible, urging the government to stick to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s zero-COVID strategy.
In an interview with state news agency Xinhua, Liang Wannian, who heads the mainland Chinese COVID-19 taskforce in Hong Kong, said the government should first focus on "reducing transmission, reducing severe cases and reducing deaths," before worrying about a promised mass compulsory testing program.
Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.