CE: Lockdown Talk Nothing But A 'malicious Rumour'

Chief Executive Carrie Lam says she is not planning to implement a lockdown or issue stay-at-home orders as the SAR grapples with its biggest coronavirus outbreak, saying reports of such measures are "fake news" or "malicious rumours".

In a post on her Facebook page on Saturday, she said taking such drastic measures would be "far-reaching and should be handled very carefully", adding that there was still room to further restrict the use of some premises or to stop people going out.

"We should take into account Hong Kong’s actual situation and unless there is really no other choice, we will not adopt such extreme measures," she wrote.

The number of virus cases reported in Hong Kong has increased dramatically since early July, with more than 100 new cases reported on four seperate days in the past week.

Lam said about 60 per cent of the recent local cases were linked to three broad clusters: homes for the elderly, a number of restaurants and a public housing estate in Tsz Wan Shan.

"The emergence of a large number of clusters at the same time, and the diverse background of confirmed cases, makes the work of tracing close contacts and cutting transmission chains very difficult," she wrote.

"Apart from an increase in the number of local confirmed cases, there has also been, unfortunately, a rise in the number of deaths as quite a number of patients are elderly or have chronic illnesses."

She said the police's super computer, usually used for tracking crime, was now being put into service to trace contacts.

Lam said testing was being boosted, with about 10,000 tests a day carried out in the past 10 days. Testing capacity will be boosted to 50,000 a day by early next month.

All residents of the hard-hit Tsz Ching Estate are to be tested, but Mrs Lam said this would take time as demand for testing is "huge".

Lam also condemned rumours that mainland medical staff would be sent to work in Hong Kong's public hospitals, though she said the central government had been "very supportive" of the SAR's efforts.

She expressed confidence that Hong Kong would overcome the epidemic, adding: "I appeal to everyone to endure all the inconveniences in life and strictly follow the social distancing measures in the immediate future.

"I would also like to appeal to landlords and employers again to ride out the difficult times with the community."