COVID-19 updates: Hong Kong records highest number of cases in a year; Fauci optimistic about omicron surge
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The backstory:
- Hong Kong and mainland China are some of the only regions left with a strict zero-COVID stance. This means that strong measures are put in place to protect their borders and community, fend off the virus and get most of their population fully vaccinated.
- The thing is, though, there still have been cases of omicron detected within the borders of both regions, with officials scrambling to figure out how it got in.
- In Hong Kong, it’s suspected that an aircrew member introduced it, and in China, it’s suspected that it was through the mail – leaving the region of 1.4 billion fighting both delta and omicron outbreaks ahead of the Lunar New Year break and the Beijing Winter Olympics.
The development:
- In the United States, the country is reporting over 700,000 cases per day – the highest surge since COVID-19 first swept across the world. But, there were fewer daily cases recorded this month, giving health officials hope that the country has reached its peak.
- “Things are looking good,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “We don’t want to get overconfident, but they look like they’re going in the right direction right now.” Meanwhile, bars and gyms in the US are bustling with people, while Americans learn to live with COVID-19.
- In Hong Kong, the city recorded 140 cases on Sunday, the highest number in about a year. 125 were locally transmitted, and 94 related to a cluster at a public housing estate in the New Territories.
- Experts say it will take 2-3 months (minimum) to control the outbreak.
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