Covid-19: Hong Kong reports world's highest death rate as zero covid strategy fails

Coronavirus infections are surging in Hong Kong as the city has reported the highest number of covid-19 deaths for population size in the world. Previously a global model for covid containment, transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has soared as Hong Kong’s zero covid strategy has failed to contain the more contagious omicron variant. The city’s low vaccine coverage is also aiding transmission and leading to more fatalities, said epidemiologists. Hong Kong’s isolation centres, hospitals, and morgues are overflowing, and some shops have empty shelves as residents are hoarding supplies in anticipation of a potential city-wide lockdown, the news agency Reuters has reported.The covid death rate in Hong Kong is now above 25 per 100 000 residents—higher than in the UK last December when the omicron variant first appeared. In Hong Kong’s largely unvaccinated elderly population the death rate is comparable to that in the UK during the first wave of coronavirus infections before vaccines were rolled out, said Julian Tang, clinical virologist at the University of Leicester, UK.