Close to 18,000 Hong Kong residents have left the city in the past week as the fifth wave of Covid-19 infections spread across the city.
Since last Friday, a total of 23,702 residents departed the city, while there were 5,713 arrivals, meaning that the city saw a net outflow of 17,989 people.
The weekly net outflow of people more than tripled in two weeks. Between January 28 and February 3, that figure was 5,613, whereas it was 17,989 from February 11 to 17.
The figures came as the city continued to struggle with the fifth wave of coronavirus infections, led by the more transmissible Omicron variant. As of Friday, Hong Kong has reported a total of 40,700 cases, and at least 238 deaths.
The city’s public hospitals also reached capacity with an increasing number of people waiting to be hospitalised. Patients on gurneys were seen waiting outside the hospital as temperatures in the city dropped.
With an increasing number of people leaving the city, some mainland Chinese cities began offering cash bounties for leads on groups that had smuggled Covid-positive patients from Hong Kong across the border.
HK01 reported on Thursday that 15 people were smuggled from the city to the mainland on Valentine’s day, and at least four of them tested positive for Covid-19.
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