Hong Kong hospital workers strike amid fear of "large-scale" outbreak
Hong Kong hospitals cut services as thousands of medical workers went on strike for a second day Tuesday to demand the border with mainland China be shut completely, as the new coronavirus caused its first death in the semi-autonomous territory and authorities feared it was spreading locally.
All but two of Hong Kong's land and sea crossings with the mainland were closed after more than 2,000 hospital workers went on strike Monday. Hong Kong health authorities reported two additional patients without any known travel to the virus epicenter, bringing the number of locally transmitted cases up to four.
The growing caseload "indicates significant risk of community transmission" and could portend a "large-scale" outbreak in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory, said Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch at the Center for Health Protection.
HONG KONG-CHINA-HEALTH-VIRUS
A medical worker wearing protective gear waits to take the temperature of people entering Princess Margaret Hospital in Hong Kong on February 4, 2020.
Hong Kong's Hospital Authority said it was cutting back services because "a large number of staff members are absent from duty" and "emergency services in public hospitals have been affected."
— CBS/AP
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