Hong Kong has never been closer to losing its "COVID zero" battle.

As residents prepare for another Chinese New Year under COVID-19 restrictions, omicron seems to have gotten the better of the city’s defenses, with a record number of new and untraceable infections.

Though the city has beaten back four previous waves of infection, returning to no COVID-19 cases will be much harder this time, given it’s facing omicron, the most infectious and immune-evasive of variants.