A look at Hong Kong's worst COVID-19 wave, and mainland-aided fight

HONG KONG, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong has reported a rapid increase in COVID-19 infections since the fifth wave of the epidemic began. On Tuesday, it registered 32,597 new cases and 117 more deaths.

During the week from Feb. 23 to March 1, Hong Kong reported a daily average of 23,961 cases, compared with 6,227 cases in the previous week.

Why are the cases rising so rapidly? What are Hong Kong's anti-epidemic measures? And how is the Chinese mainland beefing up Hong Kong's defense in this critical stage? Here is what you need to know.

WHY ARE CASES JUMPING RECENTLY?

An important factor is that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government changed the procedure for confirming cases.

Before the change, a preliminarily confirmed case required a positive retest before it would be recorded as a confirmed case, and the process would take three to four days. After the change, re-testing is no longer needed. Besides, the conditions for confirmation have been simplified, the results of residents' rapid self-tests are recognized by the HKSAR government.

"The current surge in the number of confirmed cases is also related to the fact that the number of cases was not fully reflected in the previous tally," said Ming Wai-kit, an assistant professor at the Department of Infectious Diseases and Public Health, City University of Hong Kong.

Before the simplification of procedures, many asymptomatic and mildly ill patients failed to be tested because they could only be sampled at a medical facility, and such cases were not included in the statistics, he told Xinhua.

There is still some doubt as to whether the number of confirmed cases are all true positives, which will ultimately need to be determined after Hong Kong's mass mandatory testing, Ming said.

WHAT MAKES THE FIFTH WAVE MORE CHALLENGING?

The fifth wave of coronavirus infections in Hong Kong is led by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19.

David Lam, a member of HKSAR's Legislative Council, said the strain has outrun Hong Kong's inefficient case tracking system. Omicron can fuel a surge in infections in a matter of days, and without the help of big data tools, Hong Kong's virus sleuths are overwhelmed by sprawling transmission chains that are hardly traceable.

Hong Kong has a high population density and many residents live in overcrowded rooms. Revamped sewage and ventilation pipes and poor air circulation in some houses have also sped up the transmission, he said in an interview with Xinhua.

A low vaccination rate among the elderly is also to blame. As of early February this year, the vaccination rate in elderly people over 80 years old in Hong Kong is only about 20 percent.

According to official data, up to 91 percent of the recent COVID-19 fatalities had not completed their vaccination, and the mortality rate for the elderly aged 80 or above without completed vaccination was 16 times higher than that for those who had done so.

WHAT'S NEW IN MAINLAND SUPPORT?

Ming Wai-kit said the fifth wave is believed to peak in mid- to late March, and that the HKSAR government needs to prepare the medical facilities in advance. He forecast the daily tally of new cases in Hong Kong may exceed 100,000 in the coming days.

A newly built community isolation facility (CIF) started admitting its first batch of COVID-19 patients in Hong Kong in Tuesday evening. The facility located in Tsing Yi, which is capable of accommodating about 3,900 patients, was completed within just one week on Monday with the support from the mainland.

Also on Monday, the third team of mainland health experts and personnel arrived in Hong Kong to work with the HKSAR government in fighting the latest COVID-19 outbreak. The team leader is Liang Wannian, head of the COVID-19 response expert panel under China's National Health Commission (NHC).

The team said it will exchange views fully with the HKSAR government, and make every effort to help Hong Kong to put the epidemic situation under control. The mainland experts have offered suggestions, such as how to further tighten social distancing rules and make better use of Hong Kong's strained medical resources, in order to contain the outbreak and cut the chain of transmission as soon as possible.

"We are still confident (in winning)," said Liang. "With firm support from the central government and strong leadership of the HKSAR government, we, in solid unity and with the power of science, will be able to defeat this outbreak of the virus."