News Forum - Hong Kong “overwhelmed” as it battles “onslaught” of Covid-19 infections

[Thaiger]

Hong Kong has found itself overwhelmed by an ongoing surge in Covid-19 infections, according to leader Carrie Lam. She has described the situation as an “onslaught” that has significantly affected the territory’s capacity to manage the spread, with daily infections reaching record highs and overwhelming the global financial hub. According to a Reuters report, in the last 2 weeks, daily cases have multiplied 13 times, surging from 100 cases at the beginning of February to over 1,000 on February 13. Lam says officials are struggling to control the ongoing spread and the sharp rise in infections means people are having […]

The story Hong Kong “overwhelmed” as it battles “onslaught” of Covid-19 infections as seen on Thaiger News.

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[MikeV]

For that size population 1,500 a day seems a low lumber to be overwhelming.

[DoUKnowWhoIAm]

1 hour ago, Thaiger said:

onslaught

With their zero policy, I guess one single case would be considered an onslaught

[Manu]

3 hours ago, MikeV said:

For that size population 1,500 a day seems a low lumber to be overwhelming.

Not to mention that "overwhelming" would mean a high death rate (never mention in the article by the way), if nobody dies, not sure what it is all about. Fair enough, the 10th, 11th and 12th February, the death rate has doubled: it went from 0 for weeks to... 1 death daily those 3 days.

[Chatogaster]

3 hours ago, MikeV said:

For that size population 1,500 a day seems a low lumber to be overwhelming.

 

That was my first thought as well, but then I read (elsewhere) that Hong Kong mandates that a patient may only be discharged after being 100% cleared of being a potential source of infection to others. This has has resulted in an average stay of 17 (!!) days. Not only that, Hong Kong's 0-Covid strategy means that patients don't even need to actually require care to end up in hospital.

So it probably really is an onslaught, but one that it is self-inflicted and that shouldn't be too hard to mitigate.

 

[Stonker]

36 minutes ago, Chatogaster said:

That was my first thought as well, but then I read (elsewhere) that Hong Kong mandates that a patient may only be discharged after being 100% cleared of being a potential source of infection to others. This has has resulted in an average stay of 17 (!!) days. Not only that, Hong Kong's 0-Covid strategy means that patients don't even need to actually require care to end up in hospital.

So it probably really is an onslaught, but one that it is self-inflicted and that shouldn't be too hard to mitigate.

They also have a very high requirement for government mandated and supervised quarantine and isolation, not just for those infected but for contacts even if they've tested negative and even if they're secondary contacts and many of those aren't eligible for home isolation.

As you say, largely self-inflicted.

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3166238/coronavirus-hong-kong-who-eligible-home

[Chatogaster]

1 hour ago, Stonker said:

They also have a very high requirement for government mandated and supervised quarantine and isolation, not just for those infected but for contacts even if they've tested negative and even if they're secondary contacts and many of those aren't eligible for home isolation.

As you say, largely self-inflicted.

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3166238/coronavirus-hong-kong-who-eligible-home

 

That's right, and the move to reluctantly allow home isolation has only come this month (i.e. it is part of the  current mitigation efforts). The article in your link describes it as "unprecedented". There's also mandatory testing (not just of close contacts, but even of entire flats upon finding a case), and a few other aspects that are quite extreme by "our" standards.

While Thailand is by no means on the other side of the spectrum, people on this forum that are outraged about fear-mongering and how over-the-top, restrictive Thai rules are would probably have a melt-down if they were visitors/expats in Hong Kong.
 

 

[Stonker]

2 hours ago, Chatogaster said:

That's right, and the move to reluctantly allow home isolation has only come this month (i.e. it is part of the  current mitigation efforts). The article in your link describes it as "unprecedented". There's also mandatory testing (not just of close contacts, but even of entire flats upon finding a case), and a few other aspects that are quite extreme by "our" standards.

While Thailand is by no means on the other side of the spectrum, people on this forum that are outraged about fear-mongering and how over-the-top, restrictive Thai rules are would probably have a melt-down if they were visitors/expats in Hong Kong.
 

We're in total agreement on this - people knock Thailand for 'lockdowns' and how appalling they are, but in comparison to many western countries and others such as Hong Kong Thailand's had no restrictions at all.

[Tim_Melb]

It's hard to know what is actually going on there as the place is now controlled by the CCP government and like anywhere in mainland China the actual numbers of any outbreak will never be published. The only numbers we will hear will be those approved by the propaganda dept in Beijing. There is no doubt however that in spite of what some people here and members of the media would have you believe, Omicron has the potential to do great damage in China as the most commonly used vaccine in most regions of China is Sinovac which we know is totally ineffective in stopping the spread of Omicron and provides little protection against hospitalisation. The reality of Omicron is that it is equally deadly as the original Wuhan strain of the virus in the unvaccinated its only mild compared to Delta. The only thing that is keeping the death and hospitalisation rates low in countries with serious infection rates is the high level of vaccination. 

[Poolie]

18 minutes ago, Tim_Melb said:

It's hard to know what is actually going on there as the place is now controlled by the CCP government and like anywhere in mainland China the actual numbers of any outbreak will never be published. The only numbers we will hear will be those approved by the propaganda dept in Beijing. There is no doubt however that in spite of what some people here and members of the media would have you believe, Omicron has the potential to do great damage in China as the most commonly used vaccine in most regions of China is Sinovac which we know is totally ineffective in stopping the spread of Omicron and provides little protection against hospitalisation. The reality of Omicron is that it is equally deadly as the original Wuhan strain of the virus in the unvaccinated its only mild compared to Delta. The only thing that is keeping the death and hospitalisation rates low in countries with serious infection rates is the high level of vaccination. 

Well, having a vaccination rate in the 90%s helps. The monitoring is second to none. We're in a high monitoring area because of an outbreak last week which has peaked today at about 150, and no-one moves unless they register as present. Some of course will shout 'oppression' but they always will. Let 'em. We're safe. 

P.s. Sinovac isn't 'totally ineffective.'

[Tim_Melb]

4 minutes ago, Poolie said:

Well, having a vaccination rate in the 90%s helps

As I said Sinovac even when fully vaccinated provides only a very low level of protection against hospitalisation and death. So 90%+ vaccination rates with Sinovac will have little benefit against Omicron. No doubt the authoritarian strict lockdowns their will help control the spread however it has not stopped the spread as we constantly hear of more and more regions of China having infections and lock-downs and in spite of the rubbish spread by the CCP we know that foreigners are not responsible for the new infections and neither are packages posted from Canada! 

[butterfly]

they have low numbers, because people with little symptoms don't bother being tested,

and why should they?

zero-covid policy means little testing policy, unlike Europe

TBH, Europe covid policy is actually quite successful compared to zero-covid policies countries with their overwhelming sacrifice of them population

wouldn't want to be in HK or Asia these days under Covid

[Poolie]

1 hour ago, Tim_Melb said:

As I said Sinovac even when fully vaccinated provides only a very low level of protection against hospitalisation and death. So 90%+ vaccination rates with Sinovac will have little benefit against Omicron. No doubt the authoritarian strict lockdowns their will help control the spread however it has not stopped the spread as we constantly hear of more and more regions of China having infections and lock-downs and in spite of the rubbish spread by the CCP we know that foreigners are not responsible for the new infections and neither are packages posted from Canada! 

Miaow!!! Ask Fauci who was paying for it to be researched in China.

We yesterday had 40 odd transmissions. I think we'll cope thanks, as we always have.

[Tim_Melb]

6 hours ago, Poolie said:

Miaow!!! Ask Fauci who was paying for it to be researched in China.

We yesterday had 40 odd transmissions. I think we'll cope thanks, as we always have.

Oh that's the best one yet! Did you think that one up by yourself or did it come from the CCP propaganda department? You should be careful about admitting that the virus was released from the lab in Wuhan without party permission statements like that can make you disappear in China. As for suggesting that the CDC was bankrolling the research if there was any possible way that was true the CCP would be all over it showing the world that the US was behind it and since they're not its clearly not true. I won't even bother commenting on the CCP's fictitious numbers they are a joke an the whole world knows it. 

PS. Your fantasies show just how far your statements about China are from reality. You're a joke. 

Edited February 14, 2022 by Tim_Melb

[Manu]

4 hours ago, Tim_Melb said:

Oh that's the best one yet! Did you think that one up by yourself or did it come from the CCP propaganda department? You should be careful about admitting that the virus was released from the lab in Wuhan without party permission statements like that can make you disappear in China. As for suggesting that the CDC was bankrolling the research if there was any possible way that was true the CCP would be all over it showing the world that the US was behind it and since they're not its clearly not true. I won't even bother commenting on the CCP's fictitious numbers they are a joke an the whole world knows it. 

PS. Your fantasies show just how far your statements about China are from reality. You're a joke. 

Ah another one that, by just adding arrogance and "insults" to a comment, thinks it is enough to make it a universal truth. Why adding the hateful "you are a joke" at the end of your Post Scriptum? (I do not think "you are a joke" but your Post Scriptum definitely is).

In March, when one said that the virus might have come out of the Wuhan lab, you were simply classified as a conspiracy theorist. When some months later one said that Fauci and the US have founded 100 000s of dollars that perticular lab, you were classified as mad. And then eventually it turned out to be true of course. But of course, Fauci and else denied these funds were for some research related to this virus but you have to be very naive (I would not go as far as saying "a joke") to take Fauci's words as granted after all the original lies on that subject.

https://deadline.com/2021/07/anthony-fauci-cnn-state-of-the-union-jake-tapper-wuhan-lab-research-funding-1234799663/

And again in an above comment, I am not sure why you think that you are qualified or what is happening in your brain when you state as if you were an expert that the sinovac vaccine is useless. So do you disagree with WHO? Do you know something that experts at WHO do not??

Quote

WHO today validated the Sinovac-CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, giving countries, funders, procuring agencies and communities the assurance that it meets international standards for safety, efficacy and manufacturing.

https://www.who.int/news/item/01-06-2021-who-validates-sinovac-covid-19-vaccine-for-emergency-use-and-issues-interim-policy-recommendations

Edited February 15, 2022 by Manu

[Poolie]

7 hours ago, Tim_Melb said:

Oh that's the best one yet! Did you think that one up by yourself or did it come from the CCP propaganda department? You should be careful about admitting that the virus was released from the lab in Wuhan without party permission statements like that can make you disappear in China. As for suggesting that the CDC was bankrolling the research if there was any possible way that was true the CCP would be all over it showing the world that the US was behind it and since they're not its clearly not true. I won't even bother commenting on the CCP's fictitious numbers they are a joke an the whole world knows it. 

PS. Your fantasies show just how far your statements about China are from reality. You're a joke. 

Glad I can make you laugh. Have a great day!