Patients wait at a temporary treatment area outside Caritas Medical Centre in Hong Kong, Saturday, February 26, 2022. For two years, Hong Kong successfully insulated most of its residents from COVID-19 and often went months without a single locally spread case. Then the omicron variant showed up. The fast-spreading mutation breached Hong Kong’s defenses and has been spreading rapidly through one of the world’s most densely populated places. (Photo by Kin Cheung/AP Photo)
