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Hong Kong:
The lethal coronavirus is spreading uncontrolled in Hong Kong with a document 100 new instances confirmed, the finance hub’s chief stated Sunday as she tightened social distancing measures to deal with the sudden surge in infections.
The finance hub was one of many first locations to be struck by the virus when it emerged from central China.
But the town had spectacular success in tackling the illness, all however ending native transmissions by late June.
However, within the final two weeks, infections have spiked as soon as extra and medical doctors worry the brand new outbreak is now spreading undetected within the densely packed territory of seven.5 million individuals.
On Sunday chief government Carrie Lam stated greater than 500 infections had been confirmed within the final fortnight alone, almost a 3rd because the outbreak started.
On Sunday 108 new infections have been recorded by well being authorities, a day by day excessive for the finance hub, bringing the overall to 1,886 instances.
“I think the situation is really critical and there is no sign the situation is being brought under control,” Lam informed reporters.
Lam introduced new social distancing measures final week, shuttering many companies together with bars, gyms and nightclubs, and ordering everybody to put on masks on public transport.
Restaurants have been ordered to solely supply takeout providers within the evenings.
On Sunday Lam introduced much more rules, together with plans to make it obligatory to put on masks inside any public indoor venue — and a brand new order for non-essential civil servants to work for residence.
As hospital wards fill, officers are additionally scrambling to construct an additional 2,000 isolation rooms on barren land close to the town’s Disneyland resort to observe and deal with those that take a look at constructive, she added.
Hong Kong was already mired in recession when the pandemic hit because of the US-China commerce struggle and months of political unrest final yr.
The new partial lockdown has compounded the financial distress.
On Sunday, Lam referred to as for landlords to take a look at decreasing rents within the notoriously costly metropolis the place inequality is rampant.
She stated additional social distancing measures could be rolled out if the day by day an infection price didn’t ease in coming days.
However, she stated she was eager to keep away from ordering individuals to stay at residence.
“We can’t just make a simple and extreme move to cut everything at once,” Lam stated.
Authorities say testing will probably be ramped up, concentrating on high-risk populations reminiscent of taxi drivers and restaurant employees after clusters have been discovered inside their ranks.
Some of the brand new infections have swept by aged care properties, a significant reason for concern given how lethal the coronavirus is to older individuals.
So far twelve individuals have been died after contracting the virus in Hong Kong — 4 within the final fortnight.
Lam stated officers would attempt to strike a steadiness between defending well being and preserving the economic system partially afloat.
“It’s hard to tell what kind of measures we will need to roll out… many places have ordered people to stay home,” she stated.
“We haven’t adopted that in the last six months because we wanted to maintain a normal life for everyone.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
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