A three metre square cage. the city s extreme poor live in subdivided apartments. hong kong is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. until recently, six people lived in this room. but when 0micron hit, he lost two room mates in the space of a week. translation: one person died on that bed, the other- person also died. he slept over on that bed. we called the ambulance, it got through but no one picked up. for the poor, living with covid means living in tiny apartments where the virus can easily spread. self isolating is almost impossible. translation: it was too late, he died at about 8:00pm that| night, he suffered a lot, he kept saying he was unwell, he had asthma and underlying illnesses. hong kong is coming out of the fifth wave of covid i9.
For months hong kong managed to control the spread of covid i9. but the 0micron variant overwhelmed the healthcare system and the city recorded the highest death rate in the world. many of those affected are the city s most vulnerable, the underprivileged and elderly. danny vincent reports from sham shui po district. for mr fong, home is a three metre square cage. the city s extreme poor live in subdivided apartments. hong kong is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. until recently, six people lived in this room. but when 0micron hit, he lost two room mates in the space of a week. translation: one person died on that bed. the other person also died. he slept over on that bed. we called the ambulance, it got through but no one picked up.
The city s extreme poor live in subdivided apartments. hong kong is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, until recently, six people lived in this room. but when 0micron hit, he lost two room mates in the space of a week. translation: one person died on thatj bed, the other person also died. he slept over on that bed. we called the ambulance, it got through but no one picked up. for the poor, living with covid means living in tiny apartments where the virus can easily spread, self isolating is almost impossible. translation: it was too late, he died at about 8:00pm - night, he suffered a lot, he kept saying he was unwell, he had asthma and underlying illnesses. hong kong is coming out of the fifth wave of covid i9.
Care sector they are also suffering with staff absences, and so in some cases care homes are not accepting new patients and there aren t the packages. although there is this big push to try to discharge patients and free up beds and improve flow into the hospitals, there is the sort of pinch point. across the nhs staff absences, not much change overall week on week, staying about the same, but it is different regionally. so in london things have been getting a little bit better. they were hit by 0micron a little bit earlier so staff absences are falling a little bit there, but the north west, for example, it is increasing up there, they are a little bit behind london, and things are getting a bit worse. so the overall picture is not a rapid deterioration, but things are gradually getting worse. the nhs is struggling. it is important to remember that when we talk about risks of the nhs being overwhelmed, it is not going to collapse
Three successive months. the overall list has stayed about the same. the welsh government say. dr david bailey chair of the bma welsh council and gp in caerphilly. thank you forjoining us this evening. would you say that the nhs is right about that, that until 0micron hit, some progress was being made in reducing that? i omicron hit, some progress was being made in reducing that? made in reducing that? i think we certainly were made in reducing that? i think we certainly were making made in reducing that? i think we certainly were making some - made in reducing that? i think we - certainly were making some progress because of the proportionate restrictions that we had. but it is absolutely clear that 0micron has changed all of that and the big threat now that we have all been boosted essentially in the health