Hong Kong leader elections postponed to May amid COVID-19 surge

Hong Kong on Friday announced it would be delaying its leadership elections until May due to a surge in COVID-19 cases. 

The election is getting pushed back by six weeks from March 27 to May 8, Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam said, according to The Associated Press. Lam has not said if she will run for reelection, while only one other person has announced their intention to run. 

Lam said the decision was made due to the high number of COVID-19 cases, with hospitals at 90 percent capacity. 

Along with the hospital capacity, health authorities announced isolation facilities have filled up due to the spike in cases. The city saw 6,116 new cases Thursday.

Lam has stressed mandatory testing for the entire city, but is hesitant to say Hong Kong will go into a full lockdown, according to the AP. 

“Mandatory testing and a complete city lockdown may not need to go hand in hand. It depends on the actual situation,” she said. “In our case, having examined the unique situation in Hong Kong, we’ll probably just go for universal testing of everyone, but testing more times.”

On Wednesday, the city said 10,000 hotel rooms will be converted to areas for COVID-19 patients due to the overwhelmed medical system. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping said city officials have the “overriding task” of getting this pandemic under control.