Over One Million Cases: Hong Kong Covid Deaths Soared

University of Hong Kong virologist Vijaykrishna Dhanasekaran said one factor behind the high rate was Hong Kong’s “high-density population and cramped spaces, especially in public housing estates”.

The city’s public healthcare system has also buckled under Omicron, with devastating effects. Patients were left to wait outside hospitals while bodies stacked up inside wards.

Hong Kong has recorded 5,000 Covid deaths and more than 1 million cases among its population of 7.5 million – so how did the situation become so bad? 

According to report, Hong Kong is in the grip of its worst Covid outbreak. The surge in infections during the fifth wave has outpaced other cities around the world. Analysis of government data by Hong Kong Free Press showed there were almost 900 confirmed infections per 100,000 Hong Kong citizens in early March, when cases peaked. The all-time high for the pandemic was previously held by New York City, with 500 cases per 100,000 residents, in January. 

Eventually, Omicron entered elderly care homes and found a particularly vulnerable portion of the population, all the more so because of the low vaccination rate among the city’s senior citizens.

Before the fifth wave, Hong Kong had reported a total of 212 coronavirus-related deaths. Now it is recording above that amount daily. 

Virologist Siddharth Sridhar at Hong Kong University’s Department of Microbiology said Hong Kong’s Covid-19 death rate – among the worst in the world – was “tragic but expected”, pinning it on a “perfect storm” of low vaccination rates among elderly people, low rates of prior infection and an overwhelmed healthcare system. 

Dhanasekaran said: “The data is really clear … Most people who end up in hospitals are not vaccinated, most people who are in severe conditions are elderly. It is really clear what has gone amiss.”