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
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.”
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.
I called and begged them, but still no help has ever come
The construction worker said he went for testing a day after he began feeling ill on February 4 and was confirmed as infected on February 8.
Chan said he began feeling ill on February 4 and as a precaution moved onto the roof of the six-storey building. His wife joined him two days later when she came down with a fever. They were both confirmed positive on February 8.
For more than two weeks, the couple slept on a thin sheet on the roof, moving into a stairwell only when it rained. They often burned charcoal to warm themselves.
There was no bathroom, so they asked their family to place a bucket of water on the stairs, which they fetched. They urinated in plastic bags.
Chan continued to call health authorities about quarantine arrangements, but each time he was told to wait.
“I called and begged them, but still no help has ever come,” he said.
The couple were only able to return to their crowded flat on Wednesday, after testing negative with rapid screening kits.
But all three children developed a high fever that night. Chan’s daughter suffered diarrhoea and vomited. Rapid tests showed they too were infected. Getting through to someone on the health authorities’ hotlines proved impossible.
The only household members free of the virus are Chan’s father, brother and sister-in-law. His father and brother have been staying on the rooftop since Wednesday, while his sister-in-law remains at home to look after her infected daughter.
“I’m so worried about the children. And my father is old. How can he stand the cold and poor conditions out there?” said Chan, who is the family’s main breadwinner. “We are helpless,” he said. “We are left to save ourselves.”
Officials revealed on Friday that Hong Kong had logged a record 21,979 “reported infections”, covering both confirmed and preliminary-positive test results from all public and private labs, the previous day.
As of midnight on Thursday, 51 patients were critically ill and 48 in a serious condition. The death toll from virus-related cases has reached 529.
I have never lived a life like this. I feel scared for my life every day
Hospitals have recently been swamped with Covid-19 patients, forcing some people, including the elderly, to wait outside in the cold for hours and even days for admission. Infected residents waiting to be moved into isolation facilities have been asked to stay home, remain in their own rooms and avoid face-to-face contact with other household members. They should avoid going out unless it is strictly necessary.
Restaurant dishwasher May*, 58, curled up at an underpass on Canton Road for five nights after she tested positive on February 18.
She and her jobless husband, who is in his 50s, live in a so-called bed space flat with more than 20 others in Tsim Sha Tsui. Her husband tested positive on February 12. He left home and went to sleep on the streets until he was sent to the Penny’s Bay isolation camp on February 16. May tested positive on February 18.
After her calls to the health authorities went unanswered, she left home that night, and bought a quilt to sleep at the underpass, where several homeless people had also gathered but from whom she kept her distance to avoid infecting them.
“I know I’m now a transmitter of the coronavirus. I don’t want to infect others,” she said.
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She took sick leave from work and stayed there. She wore more than one mask for fear of spreading the virus to others and bought takeaway food to eat. She caught a cold and had a fever from sleeping rough.
She only left the streets on Wednesday when a friend let her stay in a rented cubicle in Yau Ma Tei.
“I have never lived a life like this. I feel scared for my life every day,” May said.
SoCO deputy director Sze Lai-shan said her NGO had received calls for help from more than 500 families living in subdivided flats and cage homes who were infected but had no room to quarantine at home, with the number of people seeking assistance surging daily.
She said some had left home after testing positive but with no place to stay, they returned home a few days later and infected their entire families.
“Because of their poor and crowded living spaces with no separate room to isolate themselves, the one member’s infection easily caused the entire household to be infected,” she said.
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Sze said SoCO had handed out rapid test kits and food to the needy. But she called on the government to increase isolation facilities, and prioritise those who were in subdivided units and cage homes for admittance.
Kenny Ng Kwan-lim, a member of the Kwai Chung Subdivided Flat Residents Alliance, said those stuck in small homes while waiting to be isolated faced difficulties.
“The authorities should bear in mind the conditions for these residents and provide support for them,” he said.
*Name changed at interviewee’s request.
