Coronavirus: Hong Kong’s daily tally could cross 10,000 in coming week with explosion in BA.5 variant cases; two more top officials infected

Hong Kong’s daily Covid-19 caseload could exceed 10,000 in the coming week if infections involving the highly transmissible BA.5 variant grow exponentially, an expert has said, while two more senior officials are among new coronavirus patients.

To cope with the rising number of people needing treatment for Covid-19, the Hospital Authority revealed on Friday it had entered its third stage of epidemic response, doubling the number of beds available for such patients to 5,000, while encouraging more private hospitals to take in cases.