A woman in Hong Kong died on Sunday due to a cold snap. According to the report, six people were admitted to the hospital with hypothermia as the temperature plunged below 10 degrees Celsius in some parts of the city.
As of 5 p.m. on Sunday, six people aged 50 to 90 were treated for hypothermia in the past 24 hours, the Hospital Authority said, a statutory body managing all the government hospitals and institutes in Hong Kong. According to a source, the 90-year-old woman died due to a cold snap, she was sent to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, in Chai Wan.
Meanwhile, the condition of one surviving patient was still serious, and the four others were already in a stable condition, the South China Morning Post reported.
Earlier in Sunday, temperatures were as low as 4 degrees at Tai Mo Shan, Hong Kong's highest peak. On Ngong Ping, Lantau Island, the temperature dropped as low as 6.3 degrees by 6:30 pm. Similar lows were also recorded at the Tate's Cairn on Kowloon Ridge.
Hong Kong Observatory said winter monsoon weather system brings cold to the city, as well as the neighboring Guangdong province. This coming week, people might experience chilly and windy weather, with some rains on Friday. The national meteorological service also reported heavy snow in Hunan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi provinces.
Following the death of the 90-year-old woman, the Center for Health Protection advised people - especially the elderly and those with chronic illnesses - to be extra careful and take appropriate measures to protect their health. The center said those groups were likely to be affected since they couldn't regulate their body temperature very well compared to healthy people.
The center's spokesman explains elderly people usually have less insulating fat under their skin to keep them warm and their body temperature control mechanism may be weaker. Because of this, their body may not properly respond to the cold weather.
Last Saturday, the hospital bed occupancy rates at several public facilities such as Pok Oi, Tuen Mun, Caritas Medical Centre, United Christian, Tseung Kwan O, Queen Elizabeth, and Pamela Youde were above 100 percent.
Meanwhile, the MTR Corporation announced that some trains would possibly be delayed because of the adverse weather north of the border. It said that some trains for Kunmingnan, Changshanan, Shanghai Hongqiao, and Beijingxi stations to Hong Kong would be delayed for about one to two hours. The Northbound trains would be affected as well. The corporation also advised passengers to check for updates about schedules, and or on its website.
