Hong Kong announced its 7.5 million residents will be required to take three COVID tests in March as it continues to be battered by its worst wave of the pandemic. Authorities announced this week business closures and other restrictions will be extended at least until April. Hospitals say Hong Kong’s early policy to isolate or hospitalize anyone testing positive led to its healthcare system being overwhelmed.

David Chan: “None of the hospitals had any plans in place. The Hospital Authority had not provided any instructions for how to handle it if cases were to escalate.”

In other parts of the world, governments are easing or removing COVID restrictions. In Britain, immunocompromised people and health experts have condemned Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement this week that the U.K. is ending all COVID restrictions.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson: “So let us learn to live with this virus and continue protecting ourselves and others without restricting our freedoms.”

Critics say the move will put medically vulnerable people at high risk and will imperil future responses to new variants.