Deadly coronavirus ‘could spread widely through Hong Kong’ as three new cases confirmed and 39-year-old man from Whampoa becomes city’s first fatality

Hospitals struggle as 5,000 medical workers strike demanding leader Carrie Lam close borders, with bosses warning newborns and cancer patients at risk

A 25-year-old man becomes Hong Kong’s youngest confirmed case to date, while a 64-year-old woman remains critical and in need of breathing support

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Hong Kong reported three new cases of the coronavirus on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:11am, 5 Feb 2020Updated: 7:56am, 5 Feb 2020

Hong Kong could be on the verge of the deadly coronavirus spreading widely in the community, health authorities warned on Tuesday, with three new locally transmitted cases confirmed just hours after a 39-year-old patient became the city’s first fatality.

The prognosis came as public hospitals were under strain, with the Hospital Authority reporting that 5,000 workers walked off their jobs on the second day of a strike intended to force the city’s leader to completely shut down the border with mainland China. The strikers hope that such a move would curb the threat of more infections.

Appealing to them to return to work as the lives of newborn babies and cancer patients were being put at risk by their industrial action, public hospital bosses said they would turn to the private sector for help. Meanwhile, the union behind the move demanded a meeting with Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Wednesday morning, saying they would escalate their actions if she refused.

Lam courted her own controversy on Tuesday when she asked officials not to wear surgical masks, except in strict circumstances, prompting criticism that her edict was not based on science and could provoke further panic.

As the city marked its first full day of drastically restricted cross-border travel on Tuesday, the number of patients in mainland China continued to rise, with the tally of confirmed cases surpassing 20,000, and deaths at 490.

In Hong Kong, the Centre for Health Protection said the three newly diagnosed patients – taking the number of confirmed cases in the city to 18 – had not travelled to mainland China in the 14 days before falling ill.

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