Hong Kong lockdown possible as COVID-19 cases climb

Hong Kong health authorities are not ruling out instituting another COVID-19 lockdown as cases in the city reach new records and mortuaries hit capacity.

“We are still discussing, from the perspective of public health, how to make the best use of universal testing. We must reduce the flow of people to a certain extent … and citizens should not go out,” Hong Kong Health Minister Sophia Chan said, the South China Morning Post reported on Monday.

“We are currently examining and judging to what extent the flow of people should be controlled,” Chan added.

Hong Kong on Monday recorded more than 34,000 new COVID-19 infections and 124 related deaths. City Chief Executive Carrie Lam has said her government is still assessing what sorts of restrictions are needed.

Lam called for calm and said those who were panic-buying food and necessities had been misled by rumors, according to the Post.

“Citizens should remain vigilant and follow closely the information dispatched by the government, to avoid being misled by rumours,” she said.

Mortuaries and hospitals in Hong Kong are struggling to deal with the number of dead bodies. Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority, the agency in charge of government hospitals and institutes in the city, told Reuters that “the storage space in hospital mortuaries has reached full capacity.”