Chinese President Xi Jinping is urging Hong Kong Executive Carrie Lam to make controlling the COVID-19 outbreak in the island city her “overriding task,” according to state-run newspapers.
The city with special status in China documented a record 4,285 cases on Wednesday and nearly a dozen deaths over the past week.
Before then, it hadn’t recorded a COVID-19 death since September.
Mr. Xi is expressing concern about the outbreak from Beijing, ordering city officials to “mobilize all the forces and resources that can be mobilized, and take all necessary measures to ensure the life safety and health of Hong Kong citizens, and ensure the overall stability of Hong Kong society,” wrote Ta Kung Pao, a Chinese-language newspaper, on Wednesday.
The Chinese president also directed officials to route testing supplies, personnel for isolation activities and fresh food and daily necessities to Hong Kong.
Earlier this week, Ms. Lam said the “onslaught of the fifth wave of the epidemic has dealt a heavy blow to Hong Kong and overwhelmed the city’s capacity.”
Yet she downplayed the need for the type of draconian lockdown that has been imposed in cities on the mainland.
Ms. Lam faces reelection next month amid the crisis but hasn’t said whether she will run, and it is unclear if Beijing would back her.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
