Carrie Lam Mourns Covid Deaths

Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Tuesday offered her condolences to the families which lost their loved ones to Covid-19, as she mourned the deaths on behalf of the government on Ching Ming Festival.

In a statement released by her office, Lam said that it was heartbreaking to see that more than 8,000 coronavirus patients had died and that over 90 percent of them were elderly people aged 65 or above.

"The first three months of 2022 have just passed, when Hong Kong has been facing the most severe situation since the global outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic in early 2020. The epidemic situation has caused anxiety and sorrow to members of the public who have lost their loved ones," the CE said.

She added that the fifth wave of infections sparked by the fast-spreading Omicron variant had hit Hong Kong "rapidly and fiercely" and had gone beyond her administration's ability to tackle it.

But she said the government has since taken advice and support from mainland authorities and boosted its capacity in dealing with the crisis.

"The HKSAR Government will spare no effort in working in unity with all sectors of society and leveraging the staunch support of the Central Government to stabilise the epidemic as soon as possible."