Coronavirus: residents of Hong Kong’s subdivided flats forced to sleep on rooftops or streets after catching Covid-19

One construction worker and his wife camped on rooftop of their tenement building out of fear they would infect six other loved ones living in 200 sq ft unit

Society for Community Organisation reports receiving calls from more than 500 families living in tiny flats who were infected but had no where to quarantine

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Sleeping conditions for a Covid-19 positive resident living in a tenement building. Photo: Handout

Published: 9:00am, 26 Feb 2022Updated: 10:05pm, 26 Feb 2022

When a Hong Kong construction worker recently tested positive for Covid-19 along with his wife, they were faced with a predicament: how to isolate at home when they shared a 200 sq ft subdivided flat with six other family members?

Rather than risk infecting their loved ones, the 38-year-old worker, who asked to be identified only by his surname Chan, and his wife decided to sleep rough on the rooftop of their tenement building in Sham Shui Po for more than two weeks, enduring the biting winter chill.

“We were told to self-quarantine at home, but how are we able to do that when we don’t have room for it?” he said. “It was cold and wet, but I was more worried about infecting others in my family.”

A construction worker surnamed Chan burned charcoal for heat while he and his wife slept on the rooftop of their tenement building after testing positive for Covid-19. Photo: Handout

After an exponential rise in cases over the past month, Hong Kong is running out of room to place infected residents. About 60,000 who tested positive for the virus are still waiting to be moved into isolation facilities, forcing the government to tell residents with mild or no symptoms to wait at home until a space opens up.

But in the most expensive property market in the world, following those instructions can prove very difficult and even dangerous.

The Society for Community Organisation (SoCO) said it was aware of about 10 residents from poorly furnished homes who were forced to sleep outside after testing positive, while many others had reported their entire families becoming infected after being cooped up at home.

Chan and his 28-year-old housewife share one room with their five-year-old daughter and two-year-old son. His brother, sister-in-law, and their five-year-old daughter take another room, while Chan’s father, 66, sleeps in a third.