‘Of course I’m happy’: residents of Omicron-hit Hong Kong housing block breathe sigh of relief as 7-day lockdown ends
- The lockdown at Yat Kwai House was triggered by a wave of coronavirus cases in the building, with 139 uncovered there over the past week
- However, the lockdown isn’t over for everyone – some were still being taken to hospital on Friday morning after testing positive, and two more buildings at the estate remain shut off
Thousands of residents of a Hong Kong public housing block breathed a sigh of relief on Friday morning as they finally emerged from an unprecedented seven-day lockdown marked by piles of rubbish, soaring coronavirus infections and what many characterised as chaotic Covid-19 testing arrangements.
“Of course I am happy about it. Try not being able to leave your home for seven days. The flat we live in is not very spacious,” said a 51-year-old retiree surnamed Chang, who lives in Kwai Chung Estate’s Yat Kwai House.
“I am in a hurry to pick up my grandchild … Since I could not take care of him [during the lockdown], my daughter had to take over and could not work.”
The seven-day mandatory testing operation at Yat Kwai House, home to some 2,700 residents, was triggered by a wave of Omicron infections. At 6.40am on Friday, residents were already lining up in the building’s lobby in anticipation of the lockdown’s end at 7am.
A total of 14,518 tests had been carried out on residents of the block over the past seven days, with 139 cases uncovered.
Together with infections uncovered at other places, such as quarantine centres, there were currently 263 cases linked to the block, the Centre for Health Protection said on Friday.
It said a total of 396 infections were detected from 206 flats across the estate, home to 35,000 people.
Those released on Friday were given a thank-you letter from the government and a gift bag containing ready-to-eat abalone, shiitake mushrooms, Chinese dried sausage and a pack of broth.