Hong Kong’s entire population of 7.5 million individuals will be tested for Covid-19, in March according to the city’s leader, as the city grapples with its worst outbreak caused by the omicron variant.
In March, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced that the population would be tested three times.
She says that ‘testing capacity will be increased to 1 million or more each day’.
‘Testing will take about seven days because we have a population of about 7 million individuals,’ she said.
Since Feb. 15, Hong Kong has reported about 5,000 new infections every day, threatening to overwhelm the city’s healthcare system. The city has registered roughly 54,000 cases and 145 deaths since the current surge began at the beginning of the year.
The order for citywide testing comes after mainland Chinese authorities sent epidemiologists, health workers, and other medical resources to the semi-autonomous Chinese city last week to help limit the outbreak.
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