Sawt Falasteen - Hong Kong leader rules out China-style lockdown as virus spreads

For more than two years, Hong Kong has followed China's zero-Covid strategy, but a wave of the highly transmissible Omicron virus variant has battered the city's capacity for testing, quarantine and treatment.

No place in the world has managed to return to zero Covid cases after such an outbreak except mainland China, which has imposed citywide lockdowns and mass stay-at-home orders when even a handful of cases are detected.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam ruled out that approach.

"We have no plans whatsoever to impose a complete, wholesale lockdown," she told reporters.

But she also rejected calls from some public health experts and business figures to switch from zero-Covid to a mitigation strategy.

"We have to continue to fight this anti-epidemic battle. Surrendering to the virus is not an option," Lam said.

Authorities will continue to use smaller-scale district lockdowns, with testing of all residents in housing blocks where cases are detected, she added.

Like mainland China, Hong Kong has tackled the virus with largely closed borders, lengthy quarantines, contact tracing and stringent social distancing laws.

With more than 2,000 new daily infections reported Monday, and the figure hovering over 1,000 for much of the last week, the current wave is testing that policy like never before.

Local researchers have warned that new daily cases could exceed 28,000 a day by March.

- Supply crunch -

Before this outbreak, Hong Kong treated all coronavirus patients in dedicated isolation wards, but beds at hospitals and a temporary mass treatment facility near the airport have quickly filled.

An AFP photographer on Tuesday saw patients lying on stretchers outside a hospital in the Yuen Long district, with police officers in full protective gear nearby.

Close contacts of virus cases were earlier sent to a government quarantine camp, but many are now being told to isolate at home.

Lam said 3,000 flats in newly constructed public housing blocks will be converted for quarantine use and that officials are seeking 10,000 hotel rooms too.

Last week saw long queues of people waiting to get tested, and many who tested positive reported being turned away from hospitals.

Hong Kong has sourced 100 million rapid test kits and will distribute a million of them a day to high-risk individuals once they arrive, Lam said Tuesday.

Scenes from the city in recent days resembled the early phase of the pandemic, as shoppers cleared out supermarket shelves to stock up on food and essentials.

Hong Kong imports most of its fresh food and produce from mainland China, and vegetable prices spiked last week due to a virus-related supply disruption.

Lam on Tuesday said her administration was recruiting more cross-border drivers and will look into waterborne freight as an option.

O.Salim--SF-PST