The Latest Breaking News from Carrie Lam

As hospitals struggle with surge of patients, experts wonder whether Zero COVID policy contributed to city’s problems.

Hong Kong on Friday postponed an election for a new leader until May to battle a raging COVID outbreak, but unlike previous years, there's still no front-runner for the job, adding to uncertainty about the city's future as Beijing imposes its rule.

Latest updates: south Korean case numbers have risen in recent weeks due to Omicron

A policy of admitting every positive case to hospital means thousands are being added to an already huge backlog every day

Lam Foon, 98, sits propped up and swaddled in soggy woollen blankets in a hospital bed just outside the entrance to Hong Kong's Caritas Medical Centre, waiting for tests to confirm her preliminary positive result for COVID-19.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on Friday that it would take up to three months to stabilise a worsening COVID-19 pandemic that has overwhelmed health facilities and forced the postponement of an upcoming leadership election.

After keeping the coronavirus at bay for much of the past two years, Hong Kong is now struggling to contain the disease.

Hong Kong's coronavirus battle intensified on Thursday as authorities reported that new cases had multiplied by 60 times so far this month, and the city's leader said city-wide testing was being considered in the global financial hub.

Hong Kong (AFP) - Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called for Hong Kong to take "all necessary measures" to control an Omicron-fuelled Covid-19 outbreak, Beijing-affiliated newspapers in the city said Wednesday, a day after leader Carrie Lam ruled out a China-style hard lockdown.