HK residents empty supermarkets ahead of city-wide lockdown

HONG KONG, March 1 (Reuters) - Hong Kong residents braced for a city-wide lockdown, emptying supermarkets and pharmacies, even as leader Carrie Lam called for calm on Tuesday and appealed for the public not to worry over a compulsory mass COVID-19 testing plan.  

The Chinese-ruled territory reported 32,597 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday and a record 117 deaths in the past 24 hours. It has seen daily infections surge over 30 times from just over 100 at the start of February.   The global financial hub has reported more than 230,000 coronavirus infections and more than 800 deaths since the pandemic began in 2020. Around 500 deaths have been in the past week, with the majority being unvaccinated residents.  Hong Kong continues to stick to a COVID policy of “dynamic zero”, the same as mainland China, which seeks to curb all outbreaks at any cost instead of trying to live with the virus.