Hong Kong officials imposed a strict 48-hour lockdown on Saturday, requiring thousands of residents to remain in their homes as the coronavirus outbreak in the city has worsened.
Authorities made the unprecedented move in the city’s Yau Tsim Mong neighborhood, focusing on 16 apartment buildings where no residents are allowed to leave unless tested for the virus, the Associated Press reported.
Hong Kong was hit by a second coronavirus outbreak in November. In the past two months, more than 4,300 cases have been registered, accounting for nearly 40 percent of the total number of cases in the city. So far, officials have tried to avoid strict lockdowns in the busy city.
Coronavirus cases in Yau Tsim Mong district account for about half of the infections in the past week.
So far, about 3,000 people in Yau Tsim Mong district have been tested for coronavirus, joining the city’s 7.5 million others in the city that have been tested in recent days.