Hong Kong Asks Civil Servants to Work From Home as COVID-19 Cases Hit 18-month High

A health worker waits for residents to be screened for COVID-19 at a makeshift testing station outside a building placed under lockdown at the Kwai Chung Estate public housing complex in Hong Kong on Jan. 22, 2022. Louise Delmotte/AFP via Getty Images

Hong Kong has asked civil servants to work from home “as far as possible” to rein COVID-19, a day after the Asian financial hub recorded a sudden surge in case numbers.

The city reported 140 new infections on Jan. 23 during the height of the fifth COVID-19 wave—a record high in almost 18 months since July 30, 2020—when nine more cases were recorded, authorities said during a daily press conference. On the previous day there were 26 cases reported.