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 said in the weekday online Mass on February 17 at the Holy Spirit Seminary, Aberdeen, that he understands people’s anxiety as the number of confirmed cases crosses thousands every day.
The bishop said that as the fifth wave of the epidemic hit the city hard, the number of confirmed cases on February 16 reached a record high of 4,285 and 7,000 preliminary positive cases were pending confirmation. On February 15, a three-year-old girl died of the disease and was the youngest to die in Covid-19. Medical facilities were severely overloaded as the emergency rooms of several hospitals were filled up. Rain and the low temperature at the weekend might bring health risks to the patients, especially those senior citizens.
The two of the visitor’s parking lots across the hospital’s emergency room are being used to set up over 40 temporary tents to accommodate the surge in the number of patients.
According to a report in inmediahk.net on February 16, the beds inside the tents were used mainly by the elderly. All the tents were full, and nearly 20 elderly people had to wait in the open air with three beds side by side. About 20 patients were provided with chairs to rest, many of whom were elderly and children, and some children with fever patches had to squat on the floor to eat.
On a cloudy day with a temperature of 17 degrees, many patients used tin foil to keep themselves warm in addition to the thin blanket. The situation is worrying as the weather forecast predicts a chilly and rainy weekend with temperatures as low as ten degrees.
