Hello, Tom Ambrose here. I’ll be bringing you the latest Covid news over the next couple of hours.
We begin with news that the Hong Kong government plans to make up to 10,000 hotel rooms available for Covid patients as the city battles a surge in cases and local media reported the government will make testing compulsory from March.
The chief executive, Carrie Lam, renewed an appeal for support from the global financial hub’s 7.5 million people, many of whom are fatigued by some of the world’s most stringent restrictions even as most other major cities adjust to living with the virus.
Daily infections have surged by more than 40 times since the start of February and authorities have shut schools, gyms cinemas and most public venues. Many office employees have reverted to working from home.
Lam’s comments, in a statement released late on Wednesday, came after the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, told Hong Kong’s leaders their “overriding mission” was to stabilise and control coronavirus in the global financial hub.
“With the utmost concern and staunch support of President Xi Jinping … all in society must now join hands in riding out the fifth wave of the epidemic, displaying the Hong Kong spirit in full,” she said.
“I am optimistic that, through the joint efforts by the government and hotel sector, at least 10,000 hotel rooms could be made available.”
In a move to free up beds for isolation, Lam said she had spoken with local hotel owners and the security chief, Chris Tang, would oversee the operation of participating hotels.
Hong Kong was expected to report around 5,000 new cases on Thursday, Now TV reported, up from the previous day’s record high of 4,285 confirmed infections and an additional 7,000 preliminary positive cases.
