The city’s care homes urgently need more staff to care for elderly and disabled residents, as many employees have either caught Covid-19 or have been quarantined.
Kathleen Wong thought her 89-year-old mother was lucky to secure a coveted spot in a government nursing home, but now she watches in horror as a COVID-19 wave tears through Hong Kong’s elderly population.
Care homes have become the center of the territory’s worst-ever outbreak, accounting for nearly 60 percent of all deaths since January, when a resurgence fueled by the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 started.
Hong Kong has recorded nearly 3,000 deaths this year, with the majority among the elderly, the territory’s most vaccine-hesitant group.
“I am on tenterhooks all the time, fearing a sudden call with bad news,” Wong said.
Her mother,
Kathleen Wong thought her 89-year-old mother was lucky to get a coveted spot in a government nursing home, but now she watches in horror as a coronavirus wave tears through Hong Kong's elderly popula…