February 9, 2022: On Tuesday, Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam said that the Asian financial hub would stick to a “dynamic zero” Covid-19 strategy to contain the virus as authorities face their biggest test that is yet to control a record number of infections.

Lam, speaking at a weekly news briefing, said she would announce further Covid-19 restrictions later in the day after the city saw a “shocking” new record of more than 600 infections.

For now, Lam said, the best option was to adhere to mainland China’s “dynamic zero” strategy to suppress all coronavirus outbreaks as early as possible.

“We are continuing the spread of the virus as early as possible,” she said.

“We need your support; we need your cooperation. You need to stay at home,” she added.

Hong Kong stringent coronavirus policies are turning the once top global travel and business hub into one of the isolated major cities.

The economic and psychological tolls from the hardline approach are rapidly rising, with measures becoming more draconian than those first implemented at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

Flights are down nearly 90%, schools, playgrounds, gyms, and most other venues are shut. Restaurants close at 6 p.m. (1000 GMT), while most people, including most civil servants, work from home.

As authorities struggle to keep up with their rigid contact tracing scheme, government quarantine facilities are also nearing their maximum.

Many health experts have said the city’s strategy of shutting itself off as the rest of the world shifts to living with coronavirus is unsustainable.

Doctors said that mental health suffers, particularly in families where people earn less or children cannot go to school due to the restrictions.

In an editorial on Monday, the official Chinese Communist Party newspaper, the People’s Daily, the “dynamic zero infection” strategy is the scientific option for Hong Kong.