Hong Kong's new crown confirmed people exceeded 1,000 in a single day, and the emergency room has been "seriously overloaded"

In the past two weeks, at least 1,000 confirmed cases in Hong Kong have been infected of unknown origin. Among them, more than 500 of the 625 confirmed people on February 8 alone had an unknown source of infection

Due to the requirement of nucleic acid testing certificates by some companies, people have queued up at temporary testing stations in many parts of Hong Kong for testing. The picture shows the citizens queuing outside a testing station in hong Kong's New Territories during the Spring Festival. "Finance" reporter Jiao Jian/photo

Wen | Jiao Jian, a special Hong Kong reporter from Caijing

Edited | Su Qi

Around the Chinese New Year holiday, the fifth wave of the coronavirus outbreak in Hong Kong SAR, China, which began in early January, entered a day-by-day acceleration. The number of local confirmed cases of infected people has grown from tens to hundreds of thousands, in less than two weeks.

According to the confirmed data released by the relevant departments of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government on February 9, there were 1,161 new confirmed cases in Hong Kong (and about 800 preliminary confirmed cases), of which 1,153 were locally infected, setting a new high for the number of single-day confirmed cases in two years.

According to the analysis of a number of local infectious disease experts, the main reason for this situation is that most of the confirmed people are infected with the highly transmitted Omicron (Omilon) mutant virus strain. In addition, the increase in the number of family visits to Hong Kong during the Chinese New Year holiday has also made the spread of the epidemic appear cross-regional and "multi-point flowering".

In addition, the relevant person of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority also said that due to the sharp increase in confirmed cases, the emergency rooms in various districts have been seriously overloaded, and the utilization rate of isolation wards and beds has reached 90%, reaching a saturated state. Those who are initially positives are urged not to go to the emergency room. In addition, some patients may have to wait for several days before they can be admitted, and we hope that the public will understand.

As the quarantine facilities are close to saturation, Hong Kong has launched the "Ju'an Anti-epidemic" plan since February 8. On the same day, Carrie Lam, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said that the number of confirmed cases of the new crown epidemic in recent days was "thrilling". The SAR government will not swing left and right, and insisting on "dynamic zero clearance" is the most in line with Hong Kong's situation.

Multiple invisible chains of propagation

When analyzing the trend of the spread of the epidemic in Hong Kong in recent days, Zhang Zhujun, director of the Infectious Diseases Division of the Centre for Health Protection of the Hong Kong SAR Government, recently said: The confirmed cases involve multiple family groups, many groups involve more than 10 and 20 people, and there are gatherings around the Lunar New Year that cause a family to be diagnosed.

In addition, some of the other recent confirmed cases have involved more housewives, the elderly and retirees, most of whom are not related, but have been to shopping malls and markets.

According to relevant statistics, in the past two weeks, at least more than 1,000 confirmed people in Hong Kong have been infected with unknown sources. Among them, more than 500 of the 625 confirmed people on February 8 alone had an unknown source of infection.

Some experts have therefore analyzed that there are at least 30 invisible transmission chains in the Hong Kong community.

Under the premise that it is difficult to carry out universal testing, the means taken by Hong Kong to truncate the epidemic include compulsory testing in some areas, supplemented by a large number of rapid test kits after the Spring Festival to facilitate public self-inspection.

In addition, Caijing reporters also saw a large number of citizens queuing up at temporary testing stations in many areas. "When I wanted to resume work after the Spring Festival, I needed to open a test certificate because the sewage test result near the residence was positive, only to find that almost all the temporary testing stations were queuing." A Hong Kong citizen said, "Recently, the number of confirmed cases has soared, and I would rather wait in line for hours to test, and be careful." ”

Under the current development of the epidemic situation, it is still difficult to say when the number of confirmed cases in Hong Kong will peak. A team of researchers from the Department of Biomedical Sciences of the City University of Hong Kong has calculated from the model that the fifth wave of the new crown epidemic in Hong Kong may infect about 250,000 people, and is expected to reach a peak at the end of this month or next month. It is not until the third dose of vaccination reaches a certain level that the number of confirmed cases will gradually fall.

After the number of confirmed cases doubles every few days, Hong Kong's healthcare system is also facing serious challenges. With the gradual saturation of treatment and isolation facilities in public hospitals, how to keep the medical system from "bursting" is one of the core concerns of Hong Kong's anti-epidemic measures.

With the alarming growth rate of the number of confirmed cases, the relevant person in charge of the HA recently said: When receiving patients, they need to consider the condition, medical history, age, governance ability, etc., some people may need to wait for "several days" to be admitted to the hospital, most patients have no symptoms or mild symptoms, and hope that they will wait patiently at home. The HA will take the initiative to contact those waiting for admission and give priority to those who have been waiting for a long time through relevant services. Members of the public are urged to seek medical attention from a private hospital or family doctor if they have symptoms or mild conditions.

In addition, in order to expedite the discharge of patients, the Bureau has also revised the discharge conditions, if the patient does not have relevant symptoms, he does not have to wait 10 days, and can go home for self-monitoring for 14 days.

Yuan Guoyong, an expert consultant on the fight against the epidemic of the Hong Kong SAR Government and a chair professor at the Department of Microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, said: If the current (number of confirmed cases) continues to rise, it is believed that the facilities of the Haasta, Penny Bay, Abel and other facilities will soon be saturated, and in order to keep hospital services "intact", only confirmed cases with severe or risk factors must be accepted, and the discharge of patients with CT value of 30 (low virus volume) and rising antibody levels should be relaxed.

Push for a "vaccine pass"

In the absence of conditions to adopt lockdowns and other means to completely cut off the chain of epidemic transmission, the current epidemic prevention and control in Hong Kong is characterized by speeding up testing and maintaining the medical system as much as possible, so as to buy as much time as possible to increase the vaccination rate.

As the isolation facilities are close to saturation, the Hong Kong SAR Government has officially launched the Ju'an Anti-epidemic Plan since 8 February, which means that the "close contacts" and "sub-close contacts" of COVID-19 patients do not have to be sent to the isolation and quarantine center, but instead undergo home quarantine for 14 days and 4 days respectively, and the Penny Bay Quarantine Center has been transformed into a community isolation facility, which is responsible for isolating patients with no symptoms or mild symptoms.

On the same day, in response to some recent voices in Hong Kong society that "coexist with the virus", Carrie Lam said: Some people say that "dynamic zeroing" involves huge economic and social costs. But so far, the Hong Kong government has insisted on "dynamic clearance", and it is more in the public interest of Hong Kong that human life, health and Hong Kong's medical system will not collapse. It is hoped that this time will be used to increase vaccination rates and avoid putting unbearable stress on the healthcare system.

Constrained by a shortage of samplers, laboratory personnel and instruments, Hong Kong has not been able to increase its testing capacity on a large scale. Therefore, Hong Kong has requested manpower or resources from Guangdong Province.

The re-established "FireEye Laboratory" is expected to be completed within this month, increasing the daily single-tube testing capacity in Hong Kong from 200,000 to 300,000.

In terms of vaccination: Since the launch of the vaccination programme in early 2021, vaccination rates for older people in Hong Kong remain low and insufficient vaccine barriers have not yet been established.

According to the relevant data of the Centre for Health Protection of the Hong Kong Department of Health, the vaccination rate of eligible people in Hong Kong has exceeded 80%, but the vaccination rate of the elderly is still low. The vaccination rate for the elderly over 80 years old in Hong Kong is only about 32.5%, and the vaccination rate for the elderly aged 70 to 80 is 66.1%.

According to Hong Kong's newly announced anti-epidemic measures: from 24 February, the vaccine bubble will be renamed "Vaccine Pass" and the scope of application will be expanded, so that in the future, the public will need to use safe travel and have been vaccinated when entering all designated locations. Expand the list of premises subject to Chapter 599F, in addition to the original 17 items, add a total of 6 places of worship, shopping malls, department stores, street markets (or markets), hairstyles and barber houses, and from 24 February, the public must use the "Vaccine Pass" to enter these places.

The "Vaccine Pass" will be implemented in phases: the first phase will require at least one dose of vaccination for all persons aged 18 and over from the end of April to enter the listed premises, and the second phase, which will require all people over the age of 18 to receive at least two doses, starting at the end of April.

A series of related measures are regarded as the most stringent prevention and control measures introduced by the government in Hong Kong in the two years since the fight against the epidemic, because they involve employment and the inclusion of private places such as shopping malls in the scope of vaccine passes.

For example, to strengthen the implementation of the relevant measures, Carrie Lam also pointed out that the labour legislation will be amended so that if an employee refuses to be vaccinated or dismissed for failing to meet the vaccine pass requirements to work, it will not be regarded as unreasonable dismissal. If the employee is unable to work due to a compulsory containment inspection, the DH will issue a quarantine order or medical certificate for the person undergoing the compulsory inspection, and the employee will be granted sick leave, and if an employer is unable to work because the employee is unable to work due to the compulsory inspection or containment quarantine, it will constitute "unreasonable dismissal".

At a time when the spread of the epidemic is still difficult to control, those who support relevant policies point out that they should be implemented as soon as possible and shorten the waiting period to avoid a real geometric increase in the number of confirmed cases in the short term.