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Coronavirus China
ChinaScience

Covid-19: Hong Kong doubles China’s caseload total

  • The city has a tiny fraction of the country’s population but the fifth wave has sent case numbers well above the national tally since the pandemic began
  • Infections have spread quickly through the densely populated special administrative region

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Patients with Covid-19 symptoms wait at a temporary holding area outside Caritas Medical Centre in Cheung Sha Wan on February 27. Photo: Sam Tsang
Erika Na
Hong Kong’s coronavirus case total has surpassed double that of the mainland, with the city under pressure from a runaway fifth wave of infections.

Hong Kong reported 32,597 cases on Tuesday afternoon, pushing the total number of cases up to 238,377, while China’s total number of confirmed cases stood at 109,526.

The Hong Kong government is expected to impose a “large-scale lockdown” along with a universal Covid-19 testing drive later this month.

The contrast with the mainland is striking given that Hong Kong has less than 1 per cent of the country’s population.

But there is one difference in the way the two areas tally cases. Hong Kong includes asymptomatic infections in its totals while the mainland counts them separately in the daily report, adding them to the official total when they are “confirmed”, or showing symptoms. At the same time, the mainland reports many fewer asymptomatic cases.

Hong Kong reported 34,466 new infections on Monday, setting yet another daily high in a wave largely driven by the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
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