Medical worker Trevor Chung, 29, attends to patients, including 98-year-old Lam Foon, outside the accident and emergency ward of in Sham Shui Po district, following the coronavirus disease outbreak in Hong Kong, China, Feb 17, 2022.
Medical staff were unable to say how long Lam would have to wait. People who test preliminarily positive for Covid have to take further tests before treatment. In the cluster of working-class districts in nearby Sham Shui Po, some residential blocks and public housing estates have been sealed off, crowds in malls and street markets have thinned, and once teeming diners known as dai pai dongs and stalls selling knick-knacks are quieter after dark.
Hong Kong authorities on Thursday apologised for the dire situation at hospitals serving the city of 7.4 million.