Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam points to Covid-19 crisis in unprecedented move to delay chief executive election
- After Chinese president urged her government to step up fight against escalating wave, Carrie Lam turns to Emergency Ordinance to move poll back six weeks
- Leader says it pains her to see images of hospital patients waiting out in cold and also calls on homes for elderly to stop sending residents to be admitted if they are not ill
Calling the unprecedented move a “tough decision”, Lam on Friday cited the use of the Emergency Regulations Ordinance to push the chief executive election back from March 27 to May 8.
“We cannot afford to be distracted and cannot afford to make mistakes, this is in line with the important instruction of President Xi,” she said, putting the focus on tackling a crisis that has stretched public health care resources to the limit and prompted Beijing to send help.
Stabilising the surge in daily infections – 3,629 cases on Friday – and bringing numbers down significantly would take at least two months, Lam estimated.
The city also logged about 7,600 preliminary-positive cases, continuing a wave of numbers far higher than the daily caseload of around 150 in 2020 when the government proposed delaying the Legislative Council election due to the health risks involved in staging a large-scale public event.