Hong Kong’s Covid-19 death rate is now the highest in the developed world, according to Bloomberg’s study of Johns Hopkins University data.Whilst the government kept the coronavirus at bay for much of 2021, it failed to encourage elderly vaccination and was unprepared for the fifth wave, led by the omicron variant.
Caritas Medical Centre in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong during the fifth-wave Covid-19 outbreak. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Last week, officials’ media leaks about a lockdown prompted panic buying whilst hospitals remained overwhelmed with the city constructing isolation camps and doubling down on its “dynamic zero-Covid” strategy.This week, HKFP’s photographer captured a city in crisis, as frontline workers continue the battle.
Caritas Medical Centre in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong during the fifth-wave Covid-19 outbreak. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.Caritas Medical Centre in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong during the fifth-wave Covid-19 outbreak. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.Caritas Medical Centre in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong during the fifth-wave Covid-19 outbreak. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.A woman transfers wreaths at the Fu Shan Public Mortuary in Hong Kong on March 6, 2022 as the city is in the throes of its worst-ever Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak and has seen overflowing hospitals and morgues and a frantic expansion of the city’s spartan quarantine camp system. Photo: Peter Parks/AFP.Tsing Yi Covid-19 quarantine facility. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.Tsing Yi Covid-19 quarantine facility. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.Tsing Yi Covid-19 quarantine facility. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.Tsing Yi Covid-19 quarantine facility. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.Tsing Yi Covid-19 quarantine facility. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.Tsing Yi Covid-19 quarantine facility. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.Tsing Yi Covid-19 quarantine facility. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.Tai Wai Station in morning peak hours on recent weekdays. Photo: MTR Corporation.People wearing face masks as a preventive measure against the Covid-19 coronavirus commute on a train in Hong Kong on March 2, 2022. Photo: Dale De La Rey/AFP.Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.A shopping mall LeaveHomeSafe QR in Hong Kong on Tuesday, March 2. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.A shopping mall in Hong Kong on Tuesday, March 2. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.A near-empty shelve in a supermarket in Kennedy Town on March 1, 2022. Photo: Candice Chau/HKFP. Two refrigerated containers set at temperatures between one to two degrees above zero Celsius were spotted by HKFP outside the Queen Elizabeth Hospital mortuary on Friday. Photo: Selina Cheng/HKFP.The Covid-19 facility at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal. Photo: GovHK.A man (C) wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) buys pork from a butcher in Hong Kong on March 3, 2022, amid the city’s worst-ever coronavirus outbreak. Photo: Isaac Lawrence/AFP.Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
