Since the outbreak of Wuhan pneumonia, the preventive policies adopted by the Hong Kong government against the plague have been coming under attacks from all sides. Recently, the pro-establishment camp has even capitalized on the measures to snipe at Carrie Lam and her administration. It is also rumored Beijing is not pleased with her performance, while the gossip about Secretary for Food and Health Chan Siu-chee stepping down for being held accountable for it is prevailing. However, a source in the political circle indicated that while it goes without saying that Chan should be held responsible for it as the department minister, Secretary for the Civil Service Nip Tak-kuen, Lam’s “favorite officer”, also plays a role as essential as that taken by Chan and Carrie Lam in formulating the measures against COVID-19. “No one should think everything is OK after passing the buck to Chan.”

The source said he heard that quite a lot of important decisions about fighting the virus were made by Carrie Lam, and the overall planning of a host of major policies against the disease, including the Universal Community Testing Programme and the requirement that people arriving in Hong Kong should be put in quarantine in designated hotels, was done by her “favorite officer” Nip Tak-kuen, rather than by Chan, in whom Lam doesn’t have much faith.

But obviously, the two projects were poorly executed. “The Universal Community Testing Programme failed to achieve its target; as to people arriving in Hong Kong required to be put in quarantine in designated hotels, which were criticized by Wat Wing-yin for being implemented after all the students studying overseas having already come back to Hong Kong, so too late, was it still of any help?” So, if any officials are to be held accountable for the unresponsive anti-epidemic measures employed by the government, “Chan will definitely be one of them, but Nip Tak-kuen, who was responsible for the two major projects, won’t enjoy impunity, will he?”

Another source in a professional sector pointed out that Carrie Lam leads the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, but it has been rumored quite a lot of times that she did not attach much importance to expert opinions of the Scientific Committee of the Department of Health. “In fact, the committee members were not invited to take part in any formal meeting for deliberation concerning the choice of vaccine products, but just asked to submit their reports and comments.” When it was reported by the media, Carrie Lam commented that the programme was “smeared”, even told reporters to publicly name the committee member who “leaked the information”. “As far as the entire event is concerned, she just treated the experts with no respect, and didn’t provide the public with more information to convince them of the government’s anti-epidemic measures, but rather be combative against those putting forward queries. How can such an approach help contain the virus?”

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