Hong Kong’s coronavirus battle is intensifying with new cases multiplying 60 times this month.

Hospitals are overwhelmed with some patients, including elderly, left lying on beds outside in cold and sometimes rainy weather.

Health authorities reported a record 6,116 confirmed cases on Thursday, up from 4,285 the previous day, with a further 6,300 preliminary positive cases. That takes the total since January to more than 16,600. They reported 24 new deaths, including a three-year-old girl with no pre-existing conditions.

The jump in cases is the biggest test yet of the city's "dynamic zero-Covid" policy, but leader Carrie Lam said this week the city "cannot surrender to the virus."

Quarantine facilities reached capacity and hospital beds were more than 90 per cent full, authorities said.

In a move to free up beds for isolation, Lam said late on Wednesday she had spoken with local hotel owners and planned to make up to 10,000 hotel rooms available for coronavirus patients.

Read more here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/hong-kong-hospitals-buckle-omicron-surge/

Video produced by Harriet Barber, for Telegraph Global Health

Subscribe to The Telegraph on YouTube ► https://bit.ly/3idrdLH

Get the latest headlines: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Telegraph.co.uk and YouTube.com/TelegraphTV are websites of The Telegraph, the UK's best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle and culture.

#HongKong #Covid #Omicron