HONG KONG (SE): “Now let us turn to God, trust him. Let us help one another, especially those who are quarantined and those who suffer, those confirmed infected but cannot be quarantined, and the frontline medical workers. The whole society needs to be united. We pray for unity and more understanding,” Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing of Hong Kong said in the weekday online Mass on February 17, celebrated at the Holy Spirit Seminary, Aberdeen, and posted on youth online forum, Boiling Point, on Facebook.
He expressed his understanding of people’s anxiety as the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases have run in the thousands each day.
The fifth wave of the pandemic has hit the city hard, with over 10,000 confirmed and preliminary positive infections recorded, and the numbers keep rising. On February 15, a three-year-old girl was the youngest death, though at the time of writing the actual cause had yet to be ascertained by autopsy.
Medical facilities were severely overloaded as the emergency rooms of several hospitals filled up to overflowing, with patients at some government hospitals having to wait outdoors in the cold, wet weather before being accommodated.
At the Caritas Medical Centre, Shum Shui Po, over 40 makeshift tents were set up at two of the visitor’s parking lots across from the emergency room to accommodate the surge. According to a report on inmediahk.net on February 16, the beds inside the tents were used mainly by the elderly. All the tents were full and children a sporting with fever cooling patches had to squat on the floor to eat.
Solidarity among people was at its best with the tremendous outpouring of help in response to the appeal from St. Lawrence’s Church, Cheung Sha Wan. On February 17, the parish sent out a call for blankets and clothes for the patients waiting outdoors in the cold at Caritas Medical Centre. According to parish secretary, Vanessa Kwok, the parish managed to collect sufficient resources from parishioners and different organisations within a day.
Many people used tin foil, in addition to the thin blankets given them, to keep themselves warm. The situation was worrying as the weather forecast predicted a chilly and rainy weekend with temperatures below 10 degrees.
Solidarity among people was at its best with the tremendous outpouring of help in response to the appeal from St. Lawrence’s Church, Cheung Sha Wan. On February 17, the parish sent out a call for blankets and clothes for the patients waiting outdoors in the cold at Caritas Medical Centre. According to parish secretary, Vanessa Kwok, the parish managed to collect sufficient resources from parishioners and different organisations within a day.
A total of 31 boxes of blankets, down jackets, warm patches, and so on, were sent to the Patient Resource Centre of the hospital on February 18 by the volunteers from the parish. Extra resources were sent to Cartias-Hong Kong, homeless people in Sheung Sha Wan, Cheng Shing Fung District Elderly Centre in Sham Shui Po, the elderly living alone, and other people in need.
Fortunately, by February 18 the tents outside the hospital were empty. All the patients had been gradually moved indoors, filling the corridors, the elderly daycare centre and other areas of the hospital, according to a report of the Ming Pao on February 19.
Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, said in a press conference on February 18 that it was unacceptable to ask patients, particularly the elderly, to wait outdoors to get into public hospitals, and the government would look for community centres to serve as temporary holding centres.
On February 22, the South China Morning Post reported that, according to several migrant workers rights groups, at least 30 foreign domestic workers were forced to sleep on the streets or were denied treatment after testing positive for Covid-19.
