HONG KONG: Hong Kong reported about 20,000 new coronavirus cases on Friday as health experts called for a clear way out of a “zero COVID” policy that has left the city isolated.
Densely populated Hong Kong has registered the most deaths per million people globally in recent weeks.
But restrictions, including a ban on flights from nine countries such as Britain and the United States, quarantine of up to 14 days for residents returning to Hong Kong, and the closure of schools, gyms, beaches and other venues, have frustrated many.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on Thursday she would provide an update on restrictions around March 20-21 rather than wait for them to expire on April 20. She acknowledged financial institutions were “losing patience” with COVID-19 policies.
On Friday, health authorities reported 20,082 COVID-19 cases, and 206 deaths. Daily cases have been hovering around 20,000-30,000 in recent days, although some experts say the real figure is significantly higher as many people test positive at home and do not report their result to the government.
There have so far been more than 1 million confirmed cases, and more than 5,000 deaths. But about half of the city’s 7.4 million residents have likely been infected, a study from the University of Hong Kong estimated this week.
Many of the recent deaths are due to a large proportion of elderly people being caught unvaccinated after living in a relatively virus-free city for two years before the omicron variant emerged.
With future outbreaks seen as inevitable, Hong Kong must make plans to eventually live with the virus, rather than insisting on eradicating all outbreaks, some epidemiologists say.
Mainland China, which has similar COVID-19 policies, is also battling its worst outbreak since the virus first emerged in Wuhan in 2020. It reported 2,388 new local cases with confirmed symptoms on Thursday, almost double the count a day earlier.
President Xi Jinping signaled on Thursday that the “dynamic clearance” policy to contain the outbreak would not be ditched.
Hong Kong reports 20,082 new COVID-19 cases as city promised fewer restrictions
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Hong Kong reports 20,082 new COVID-19 cases as city promised fewer restrictions
- Densely populated Hong Kong has registered the most deaths per million people globally in recent weeks
Lawsuit challenges Trump administration’s ending of protections for Somalis
- The lawsuit cites a series of statements Trump has made describing Somalis as “garbage” and “low IQ people” who “contribute nothing.”
BOSTON: Immigrant rights advocates filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to stop US President Donald Trump’s administration from next week ending legal protections that allow nearly 1,100 Somalis to live and work in the United States. The lawsuit, brought by four Somalis and two advocacy groups, challenges the US Department of Homeland Security’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status for Somali immigrants, whom Trump has derided in public remarks. Outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in January announced that TPS for Somalis would end on March 17, arguing that Somalia’s conditions had improved, despite fighting continuing between Somali forces and Al-Shabab militants. The plaintiffs, who include the groups African Communities Together and Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans, in the lawsuit filed in Boston federal court argue the move was procedurally flawed and driven by a discriminatory, predetermined agenda.
The lawsuit cites a series of statements Trump has made describing Somalis as “garbage” and “low IQ people” who “contribute nothing.”
The plaintiffs said the administration is ending TPS for Somalia and other countries due to unconstitutional bias against non-white immigrants, not based on objective assessments of country conditions.
“The termination of TPS for Somalia is racism masking as immigration policy,” Omar Farah, executive director at the legal group Muslim Advocates, said in a statement.
DHS did not respond to a request for comment. It has previously said TPS was “never intended to be a de facto amnesty program.”
TPS is a form of humanitarian immigration protection that shields eligible migrants from deportation and allows them to work. Under Noem, DHS has moved to end TPS for a dozen countries, sparking legal challenges. The administration on Saturday announced plans to pursue an appeal at the US Supreme Court in order to end TPS for over 350,000 Haitians. It also wants the high court to allow it to end TPS for about 6,000 Syrians.
SOMALI COMMUNITY TARGETED
Somalia was first designated for TPS in 1991, with its latest extension in 2024. About 1,082 Somalis currently hold TPS, and 1,383 more have pending applications, according to DHS. Somalis in Minnesota in recent months had become a target of Trump’s immigration crackdown, with officials pointing to a fraud scandal in which many people charged come from the state’s large Somali community. The Trump administration cited those fraud allegations as a basis for a months-long immigration enforcement surge in Democratic-led Minnesota, during which about 3,000 immigration agents were deployed, spurring protests and leading to the killing of two US citizens by federal agents.
In November, Trump announced he would end TPS for Somalis in Minnesota, and a month later said he wanted them sent “back to where they came from.”
The US Department of State advises against traveling to Somalia, citing crime and civil unrest among numerous factors.
