HONG KONG – New COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong today reached another record high at 55,353, with health authorities saying large freezer containers will be set up at public hospitals to store dead bodies as mortuaries are reaching capacity.
The latest daily COVID-19 tally is a 70 percent jump from the 32,597 infections recorded yesterday.
But Albert Au Ka-wing of the Centre for Health Protection said the record figure was within the government's expectations, as the number of new infections continues to double every few days.
Of the new cases, 27 were imported.
The Hospital Authority, meanwhile, reported 160 COVID-19-related deaths.
Among them, the authority said 117 passed away over the past day. Most of them were elderly people and unvaccinated.
The other 43 patients who died earlier were also added onto the official death toll, bringing the total numbers of fatalities in the Omicron outbreak to 967.
As the number of Covid-related deaths remains high, a chief manager of the Hospital Authority, Larry Lee Lapp-yip, said large freezer containers that can store up to a total of 500 bodies will be set up at public hospitals.
He also said that 60 kidney patients who had been receiving dialysis at private hospitals have been transferred to public hospitals after testing positive for COVID-19.
He said he hopes more non-COVID-19 patients can be transferred to private hospitals to alleviate the burden on public hospitals.
As of today, Hong Kong's total COVID-19 tally (over the past two years) stands at 238,377, including 990 fatalities, according to worldometers.info. Hong Kong has a population of 7.5 million.
Macau's COVID-19 tally stands at 82. No COVID-19 deaths have been reported in Macau. Macau has a population of 683,000.
The Macau government has implemented strict COVID-19 prevention and control measures since early 2020. Foreign nationals without the right of abode in Macau have been barred from entering the city since March 2020. – RTHK, MPD
