Xi lends impetus to HK's drive to end COVID crisis

Mid-February normally calls for romantic celebrations. Valentine's Day falls on the 14th, and yuan xiao, the first full moon of the first month of the Lunar New Year calendar, commonly known as China's Lovers' Day, falls on the 15th. Yet Hong Kong is filled with sadness on these propitious dates, as rapidly soaring coronavirus infections and fatalities, including the death of small children, cast a pall over the city.

In stark contrast, television coverage of yuan xiao celebrations in Shanghai showed lantern-lit gardens thronged with people in festive activities.

Even more heart-wrenching are images of Hong Kong people camping overnight outside public hospitals, awaiting treatment and shivering in the cold.

It is not that government officials have not tried hard enough to fight the virus. For tens of thousands of health officials, frontline healthcare workers, emergency service providers, cleaners and cross-border transport workers, just to name a few, the two-year battle has been an unspeakable ordeal. To give credit where credit is due, until omicron struck, the local government had done reasonably well. Last year, Hong Kong people enjoyed a long, 80-day spell of zero local COVID-19 cases. Locals and expatriates alike were thankful that they could live safely and enjoy all the amenities the city had to offer.

Yet the government's inability to reopen its border with the Chinese mainland and reconnect with the rest of the world is causing mounting economic and humanitarian problems, as well as denting Hong Kong's prospects as an international trade, business and tourism hub.

The arrival of omicron should not have been unanticipated, given the speed at which it has spread around the world. The government was nevertheless caught ill prepared. In the first two months of the year, more infections were recorded than in the past two years. As of Feb 19, 46,763 cases had tested positive and 276 deaths had been logged - a 30 percent increase in fatalities in 10 days.

The government made some mistakes in the past two years, like allowing aircrew and seamen to home quarantine without surveillance and not pushing vaccinations hard enough. But nothing posed a greater problem to the government's anti-epidemic efforts than its reluctance to follow the Chinese mainland's "dynamic zero-COVID" strategy, which has proven to be successful.

The government fumbled to explain what "dynamic zero-COVID" means. In response, Liang Wannian, an expert from the National Health Commission, explained that "dynamic zero-COVID" does not mean zero infections, but rather early detection, rapid and precise isolation of close contacts and treatment of infected persons. The Chinese mainland has had outbreaks of COVID of varying scales. But through adopting this "dynamic zero-COVID" strategy, mainland cities have been able to isolate infected areas with precision, cut off transmission and enable the infected areas to reopen quickly.

Hong Kong officials had great difficulty adopting this model for technical, practical but, above all, ideological reasons. Take contact tracing. Hong Kong officials have been reluctant to adopt any device that stores personal data for fear of stoking complaints about privacy infringement. To appease such complainants, Hong Kong's LeaveHomeSafe app, introduced in November 2020, does not store any personal data, nor have any contact tracing function, thus making it very difficult for health officials to track close contacts.

The government has finally proceeded to upgrade LeaveHomeSafe by enabling the uploading of vaccine certificates with personal data, and will require use of the upgraded app as a "vaccine pass" for entry into government venues and other "scheduled premises", such as restaurants, supermarkets and department stores, but all too late.

In spite of the deployment of over 10,000 disciplined service staff to help trace contacts, given the warp speed at which omicron spreads, it is well-nigh impossible for the government to trace contacts, relying on a combination of this defective device and manual means.

The government has also resisted the idea of communitywide testing to track, isolate and treat infected persons. There were fears that universal testing could not be implemented unless mandated by law, and there would be opposition to mandatory arrangements. There were also concerns about the concomitant need for a citywide shutdown, and the colossal resources required to enforce universal testing and shutdown, and provide the necessary quarantine and treatment facilities.

In January 2021, the outbreak of the fourth wave triggered by a dance club cluster prompted the government to introduce a scheme for mandatory lockdown of "restricted" areas for testing, starting with a block of densely populated high-rise buildings in the Jordan area. The government continued to apply this "restricted-testing" or partial lockdown model to flush out infected cases. But omicron cases are rising exponentially, as medical experts had predicted, rendering the government's half-baked measures an utter failure in arresting the spread.

The critical situation has led General Secretary Xi Jinping to express his deep concern over Hong Kong's pandemic situation in a directive to Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Feb 16. Xi placed the prime responsibility for containing the virus squarely on the local administration. Hong Kong must treat curbing the virus as its "overriding" mission, and must mobilize all resources and adopt all necessary measures to protect lives and public health and maintain stability. Xi directed the central government to render full support.

Since Xi has spoken, mainland health experts, large vehicles which can serve as mobile testing centers, and other key medical supplies have arrived in Hong Kong. New quarantine and treatment facilities are being built with the mainland's help. In pursuance of Xi's directive, Luo Huining, head of the central government's Liaison Office in Hong Kong, has mobilized Hong Kong's wealthiest corporations to provide land, hotel rooms and other much-needed facilities for use as quarantine or treatment centers. Aid is now pouring in.

Despite bad-mouthing by Western media that Hong Kong would not be able to stop COVID-19, with strong support from the highest level, there will be no more dithering on the part of the SAR government. At its wit's end, the local government will have no option but to change tack and adopt more decisive measures on mainland lines. Lam has finally conceded that universal testing is under consideration. It will take two to three months for more effective measures to kick in, but light at the end of the tunnel is finally flickering.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.