Rapid Spread of COVID-19 in Hong Kong "Considering Mandatory Testing for All Citizens"

Amid an emergency in Hong Kong due to a surge in COVID-19 patients, on the 16th, a patient showing COVID-19 symptoms is sitting on a chair outside Caritas Medical Center in the city, wrapped in a blanket while waiting for hospitalization. In Hong Kong, the daily number of COVID-19 patients was in the hundreds earlier this month, but it suddenly jumped to the 2,000s four days ago, causing a shortage of hospital beds in many places.

As COVID-19 rapidly spreads in Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, stated, "We are considering testing the entire population once conditions are met."

According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) and others on the 18th, Lam made the remarks to reporters while welcoming Chinese epidemic prevention experts who arrived in Hong Kong the previous day. She said, "Such (mass testing of the entire population) is a large-scale operation that cannot be handled with about 100 testing vehicles," adding, "Hong Kong needs to secure sufficient space, and people need to be tested in an orderly manner."

When asked about the possibility of a nighttime curfew or a city-wide lockdown, she said, "The Chinese experts also agreed that such measures are not suitable for Hong Kong's unique environment."

A government official told SCMP, "If the construction of three large temporary hospitals proceeds smoothly, mass testing of the entire population could begin around mid-next month."

Earlier, on the previous day, Sing Tao Daily and HK01 reported, citing sources, that Hong Kong plans to conduct three rounds of mandatory mass testing of the entire population next month.

Hong Kong's healthcare system has reached its limit as new cases surged about 60 times from the 100s at the beginning of this month to 6,000s as of the previous day, within roughly two weeks.

Due to a shortage of hospital beds and quarantine facilities, many patients brought to hospitals have been waiting outside in the cold. The surge in testing volume has also caused delays in results.

SCMP reported, based on its own estimates, that about 22,000 COVID-19 patients are currently waiting for hospital beds.

Hong Kong authorities announced that 20,000 hotel rooms and 3,000 newly rented housing units will be used as quarantine accommodations.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.