Hong Kong to Lock Down District in Kowloon, SCMP Reports

(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong for the first time will lock down tens of thousands of residents in a bid to contain a worsening outbreak of the coronavirus, the South China Morning Post reported, citing unidentified people.

The lockdown is expected to begin this weekend in Yau Tsim Mong, the core urban district of Kowloon. It covers the two designated mandatory testing areas in Jordan and Sham Shui Po, where aging buildings and subdivided flats are common.

The Hang Seng Index dropped as much as 1.3% after the report.

Despite almost two months of social distancing, the city’s infection curve appears to be ticking back up after mass testing was conducted among some housing estates. While Hong Kong’s coronavirus cases haven’t risen drastically compared to global cities such as London and New York, strict rules like the closure of schools and some businesses are in place.

With Hong Kong apartments averaging around 500 square feet -- about the size of a New York City studio -- the government has been reluctant to adopt drastic measures in the past year, because of concerns that a strict lockdown could ignite a crisis in a city that has already been rocked by protests.

Only residents who show negative Covid-19 test results will be allowed to leave the lockdown areas, according to SCMP, specifying that exemptions will be allowed for those who need to seek medical consultation or face physical harm.

The lockdown will only be lifted when the government is satisfied that everyone has been tested in the area, the report said.

The heavier restrictions come as neighboring city Macau reported the first imported case since June.

Hong Kong has seen 167 deaths from Covid-19 -- still roughly half the toll inflicted on the city from the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, pandemic, which killed nearly 300 people in the early 2000s.

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