Emergency wards have seen a drop in attendance amid the pandemic - but delayed treatment has also increased the city's death rate, according to a study. At the same time, the mortality rate in Hong Kong went up from 2 percent to 2.9 percent - a staggering 45 percent rise. Meanwhile, public hospitals are in the midst of its winter service surge. Thirteen out of 17 public hospitals have over 100 percent medical inpatient bed occupancy rate at Sunday midnight. As of 7.30pm last night, the average waiting time at the emergency room at 18 public hospitals were mostly over two hours.

Source: The Standard December 14, 2021 07:14 UTC