A man eats a take-out meal in a chair placed outside a restaurant in Hong Kong’s Kowloon Sham Shui Po district in the early morning of July 29, 2020, as new social distancing measures come into effect that They include restaurants that are only allowed to serve takeaways, to combat a new wave of coronavirus infections.
Anthony Wallace | AFP | fake pictures
Hong Kong is on the cusp of a large-scale coronavirus outbreak that can overload its health care facilities and cost lives, Chief Executive Officer Carrie Lam said Wednesday when new measures of social distancing took effect.
In a prerecorded video address Tuesday night, Lam said there has been an “increase” in local infections and that there are “many with sources as yet unknown.” Confirmed cases in Hong Kong soared in July, with a new daily high of 145 reported this week.
Also Tuesday, authorities said they were investigating 106 new cases, bringing the total number to at least 2,884.
“We are on the verge of a large-scale community outbreak, which can lead to a collapse of our hospital system and cost lives, especially the elderly,” said the executive director.
Initially, Hong Kong was able to contain the virus despite being relatively close to the city of Wuhan in China, where infections were first detected in 2019. It was able to avoid imposing a blockade while many other countries imposed restrictive distancing measures. social and even reopened their doors. Disneyland Hong Kong in mid-June.
However, the new and stricter rules of social distancing come into effect in the city today, with the ban on meetings of more than two people and the suspension of dinner services.
Lam asked citizens to cooperate to protect the city. “I ask that you strictly follow social distancing measures and stay home as far as possible. If we stay together and work together, we can suppress this epidemic again.”
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