World News: Hong Kong warns of worsening Covid outbreak as leader defends hamster cull – Gulf Digital News

  • Date: 22-Jan-2022
  • Source: Gulf Digital News
  • Sector:Healthcare
  • Country:Gulf
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World News: Hong Kong warns of worsening Covid outbreak as leader defends hamster cull – Gulf Digital News





HONG KONG - Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Saturday warned that Covid-19 infections could be growing exponentially in a congested residential area of the city and that overall cases had also spread due to an outbreak in pet hamsters.

Chief Executive Lam urged Hong Kong people to avoid gatherings ahead of next week's Lunar New Year as officials grappled with an outbreak of the highly-infectious Omicron variant in Kwai Chung, north of the city's Kowloon peninsula.

"We are worried that the exponential growth of cases that we have seen in other parts of the world is now happening in Kwai Chung," Lam said.

The situation is testing Hong Kong's "zero Covid" strategy focused on eliminating the disease, with schools and gyms already shut, restaurants closing at 6 p.m. (1000 GMT) and air travel with many major hubs severed or severely disrupted.

Speaking after meetings with health officials, Lam said that there was only a "slim chance" those city wide restrictions could be lifted on Feb. 4 as planned.

She said that a second Kwai Chung apartment block, home to more than 2,000 people, would be shut down for five days.

On Friday, officials shut down a first Kwai Chung building for five days after