Recently, the Hong Kong epidemic has been a bit tricky.
Since February 17, the daily increase of new crown cases in Hong Kong has reached 6,116, and the number of new cases has gradually increased for several consecutive days.
On February 27, Hong Kong confirmed 26,026 cases and 83 deaths in a single day, and on the 28th, Hong Kong had 26,026 new confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia in a single day.
At present, Hong Kong is still adding a large number of new positive cases of unknown origin every day. For a city of 7.5 million people, tens of thousands of positive infections also means that the virus has spread in Hong Kong .
You must know that from February 8th to 14th, the average daily increase of cases was only 1289.9, but from February 15th to 21st, the average daily increase of cases was 5044.6, not to mention It is said that today there are tens of thousands of new cases.
The whole of Hong Kong is struggling under the attack of Omicron.
Hospitals are overcrowded, and the occupancy rate of beds in many public hospitals is overloaded; rapid test kits have long been sold out, and there are long queues at test centers.
At the same time, food prices have generally risen as cross-border drivers are diagnosed, affecting supply.
Why has the outbreak in Hong Kong been so severe in just a few weeks?
First, the hidden spread of the community is widespread
The virus strain that caused the outbreak in Hong Kong is mainly the Omicoron subtype variant BA.2. Compared with the delta variant strain, the Omicron virus strain is not only secretive , and spread fast.
In Hong Kong, for several months in a row, Christmas, New Year’s Day, Spring Festival and other important festivals have happened, and there are many social activities.
The biggest source of this round of epidemics came from the Kwai Chung group, and the source of this group of epidemics came from a Pakistani woman who arrived in Hong Kong in December last year. Infected with the Omicron variant during quarantine.
After being quarantined, the woman returned to her home in Dongmanlou, Dakengdong Village. After that, the virus spread to her husband and children. Her husband went to Yikuilou to do business. It quickly spread in Kwai Chung Village.
Kwai Chung Village is densely populated, and although the Hong Kong government has imposed blockade control on some buildings at the time, it has not been able to prevent the spread of the virus.
Therefore, the entire Kwai Chung Village in Hong Kong has become one of the epicenters of this round of outbreaks.
Second, vaccination rates are low, mostly older children
According to the data released by the Hong Kong SAR government, 84% of people in Hong Kong are currently vaccinated with the first shot and 76% with the second shot.
But in the 3-11 year old population, Fewer than 0.4% received a second shot, and only 28% of people over 80 received a second shot.
Therefore, without the protection of the vaccine, the infection rate of the elderly and children increases, and the severe disease also increases, and the mortality rate also increases.
Third, the efficiency of flow regulation is low and nucleic acid detection is difficult
You must know that epidemic prevention and control are inseparable from epidemiological investigation + nucleic acid + health code. Doing these links can quickly and timely control the large-scale spread of the epidemic.
But the problem is that due to historical reasons, Hong Kong people are opposed to such things as health codes. Although the epidemic has lasted for two years, the promotion of health codes has been delayed until the end of last year. Just launched, and the number of downloads is only more than 600,000.
At the same time, many areas in Hong Kong have not yet established big data, resulting in the spread of the disease hidden in the information that many Hong Kong people are unwilling to provide.
In addition to the limited medical resources in Hong Kong, public nucleic acid testing resources are limited, and private nucleic acid testing costs are too high, Hong Kong people are less willing to take the initiative to carry out nucleic acid testing.
And even during the nucleic acid test, many residences and office buildings in Hong Kong did not implement “foot-stop orders”, and even participated in large-scale gathering activities.
Fourth, limited medical resources make it difficult to implement home-based anti-epidemic
Due to the huge amount of land in Hong Kong, the personal space left for each person is also limited, and close contact with the environment can easily lead to the spread of the virus. Some Hong Kong people cannot stay at home for a long time due to work reasons, economic pressure and other reasons. isolate.
In addition, Hong Kong hospitals and isolation points have also become saturated. For confirmed positive patients, they can only stay at home as much as possible while waiting to be admitted to isolation facilities.
(Photo | Sourced from Hong Kong Hospital Authority)
Only when there is a critical condition such as difficulty breathing and elevated body temperature, an ambulance needs to be sent to the hospital, but the increase in the number of cases has also made Hong Kong’s isolation hotels and medical resources unable to Avoid heavy loads.
Faced with such a serious epidemic trend, the mainland is also helping in a timely manner
The outbreak is expected to last until mid-June, killing nearly 7,000 people, according to a model by the University of Hong Kong. However, in the face of the severe epidemic situation, the mainland also naturally gave help to Hong Kong.
Not enough healthcare workers?
Relevant medical staff andVolunteers have gone to the front line in Hong Kong;
Not enough nucleic acid testing?
Mainland implements the “Huoyan Laboratory” in Hong Kong, which can increase the detection capacity of 100,000 single tubes per day for Hong Kong;
Not enough hospital beds?
In cooperation with Hong Kong, the mainland will build a makeshift hospital covering an area of about 60,000 square meters in Tsing Yi, Hong Kong, which can accommodate 3,800 beds at one time;
Vegetable prices rising?
Since February, more than 20 varieties of vegetables have been transported to Hong Kong by an average of 2-3 trucks per day, and the cumulative supply of vegetables to Hong Kong has exceeded 200 tons.
At the same time, including anti-epidemic Chinese medicine, masks, a large number of protective clothing, rapid testing kits, etc., anti-epidemic materials from the mainland have arrived in Hong Kong one after another.
Not enough medication?
Led by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, 200,000 boxes of Lianhua Qingwen Capsules and Lianhua Qingke Tablets, Lianhua Breathing Health Pack, Lianhua Qingwen Antibacterial and Antiviral Including masks, anti-epidemic materials worth 13.65 million yuan (about 16.8 million Hong Kong dollars) have been donated to Hong Kong through the Zhong Nanshan Foundation of Guangdong Province to support Hong Kong’s epidemic prevention and control work.
As the saying goes: Compatriots in trouble, all parties support.
Hong Kong is a part of the motherland. When our compatriots are in trouble, everyone will actively help.
We believe that with the help of all parties, the epidemic in Hong Kong will soon be brought under control, and in the near future, the prosperity of the past will be restored on the port of Victoria.
However, control ≠ clearing. In order to prevent another large-scale outbreak of the epidemic, Hong Kong needs to completely plug the import loopholes, and at the same time prepare sufficient medical resources and strict tracking and isolation measures.
This long-term “dynamic clearing” can be implemented faster.
References:
[1] Zhu Lina. The fifth wave of the outbreak in Hong Kong: more than 2,600 new confirmed cases in two weeks, adhere to the “dynamic clearing” and tighten the gathering restriction order [N]. 21st Century Economy Report, 2022-02-09(010).
【2】Zhou Yuanchun, Li Gang. Side by side heart to heart to fight the epidemic, looking forward to spring [N]. Shenzhen Special Economic Zone News, 2022-02-18(A05).