Single and unemployed? New study says you’re more likely to die when it gets cold in Hong Kong than anyone else
- Report from University of Hong Kong studied impact of cold snap in 2016
- Author calls for better public health education for vulnerable residents
A new study has suggested jobless and unmarried Hongkongers are most at risk of dying during a cold snap, as temperatures plummet across the city.
There should be a better protocol on public health education to target vulnerable residents with these two high-risk factors, who were up to 60 per cent more likely to die when there was a drop in temperatures, the report warned.
Tuesday was officially the coldest day of the year, with temperatures dropping to 10.8 degrees Celsius (51.44 degrees Fahrenheit).
With the winter monsoon bringing cooler weather to the region, the Hong Kong Observatory predicted the cold snap would last for a couple more days, with temperatures gradually rising over the weekend.
“Even though it seems Hong Kong is getting hotter in general and we may be seeing less of a cold front, it is all the more important to have a protocol in place to minimise the health hazards for the public,” said lead author, Derrick Ho Hung-chak, a research assistant professor in the Department of Urban Planning and Design at the University of Hong Kong.
Ho’s report, published in Science of the Total Environment in October, concluded a particularly cold spell which hit East Asia in January 2016 had pushed up the mortality rate in the region for about five weeks.