Hong Kong may impose a China-style hard lockdown that confines people to their homes, authorities signalled Monday, with the city’s zero-Covid strategy in tatters and bodies piling up in hospitals, IgbereTV reports.
Two years of strict zero-Covid policies kept the coronavirus largely bay but a breakthrough of the highly transmissible Omicron variant exposed how little authorities had done to prepare for a mass outbreak.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam previously ruled out a citywide lockdown and instead has ordered all 7.4 million residents to be tested in March.
But in a U-turn, health secretary Sophia Chan confirmed on Monday that it was still an option.
Asked by a presenter at Commercial Radio whether a lockdown was still ruled out she replied: “No. We are still discussing.”
“From a public health perspective, to bring out the best effect of compulsory universal testing, we need to reduce people’s movements to some extent,” she added.
Chan’s comments came a day after Li Dachuan, a senior mainland official involved in a joint taskforce with Hong Kong authorities, described a lockdown as “the most ideal and best approach to achieve the best effect of universal tests”.
