Hong Kong, and parts of mainland China, are in the midst of a significant outbreak of Covid-19.
Omicron breaks through
Once a shining example of how mass-testing, strict tracing protocols and quarantining could keep a lid on cases, Hong Kong has been completely unprepared for an outbreak of this magnitude, with omicron spreading rapidly in its elderly 80+ population, of which just ~35% are double vaccinated.
Any person with a confirmed infection used to be hospitalized in Hong Kong, in an attempt to break the chain of transmission — even if that person was asymptomatic. That strict policy worked in the early pandemic, but seems to have broken down in the face of the highly transmissible omicron variant.
Since the end of February, Hong Kong has seen more than 4,000 confirmed deaths — which relative to its population is significantly worse than the US or Europe ever experienced in any 7-day rolling period.
