The department reported more than 20,000 new infections on Friday, most of which were reported online by at-home rapid antigen tests, according to the South China Morning Post. The mailing out of at-home tests has helped the city to detect far more than its PCR testing facilities can process, and revealed an outbreak far worse than believed.
However, the true number is likely still far higher: researchers at the University of Hong Kong projected earlier this week that the true number of infections is closer to 3.6 million - half the population of the Chinese special administrative region.
While the city has shuttered some places such as gyms, restricted the hours of shops and imposed other social restrictions, their efforts pale in comparison to those seen just across the border in Guangdong. On Sunday, the 17.5 million residents of Shenzhen entered a week-long lockdown in which city officials will conduct three rounds of testing - a dramatic measure taken after just a few dozen cases were detected and in line with Beijing’s policy of “Zero Covid.”
On the mainland, 2,461 new cases were reported on Friday, nearly all of which were part of an outbreak in Jilin Province that officials are rushing to clamp down. For months, China has struggled successfully to keep the Omicron outbreak under control, putting to work a mass-testing infrastructure that has allowed it to test cities of tens of millions of people in a single day and to supply residents with the daily necessities while they remain in total social lockdown. So far it’s worked, sparing China the agony of the uncontrolled spread seen in other countries like the United States, where the death toll is approaching 1 million.
However, Hong Kong has no such infrastructure and can only test up to 300,000 test samples per day.
“Hong Kong cannot be compared to mainland Chinese cities in many measures,” Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Monday. “If you ask Hong Kong to learn from Shenzhen today and hold a three-round compulsory universal testing campaign within days, I’m afraid we don’t have that level of capacity.”
As a result, the city has pushed residents to get vaccinated or to complete their vaccination schedules, including opening up a fourth shot for immunocompromised people over the age of 11. Roughly 91% of the city has gotten at least one shot, and roughly three-quarters of the deaths have been people who were not immunized. There is also a fear that the immune protection of older or incomplete vaccination regimens are fading, leaving more already-vaccinated people vulnerable to infection. On Thursday, 206 people died, bringing the city’s total to 5,401.
To make matters worse, Lam’s government has repeatedly waffled on whether or not it would attempt such a lockdown, prompting waves of panicked buying that has led to shortages, but also harming the government’s credibility in handling the crisis.
“Honestly, I think government policies keep changing all the time and it’s hard for residents to follow,” resident Alison Hui told the Associated Press. “We don’t know if an announcement is real or not. It really makes us feel very worried.”