Hong Kong journalists were in China covering the novel pneumonia outbreak soon after the first cases cropped up in Wuhan, China in December 2019. During the 2020 Lunar New Year holidays, Hong Kong registered the first imported case from China. However, citizens reacted swiftly, beginning a citywide campaign to wear masks to protect themselves. Then the government, under pressure from society, partially tightened all border crossings. Thanks to these actions, together with the lockdown imposed on several infection zones in China, the first wave of infections was not particularly serious.

The virus spread in Europe and the US in March and April. Tourists visiting Hong Kong and Hong Kongers returning from overseas brought about the second wave of infections, which were mainly imported cases. At first, the Hong Kong government did not require these arrivals to undergo a virus test at the customs, and the 14-day quarantine arrangements for them were relatively slack. As a result, the virus began to spread in the communities, bars and restaurants. Fortunately, those infected were mostly young and had mild conditions. There were few critical cases.

Just when community infection cases ceased to appear for a while and everyone thought that we could have a relaxed summer, we were shocked to learn that the government had exempted many sailors and people from mainland China holding a special pass from virus tests, or even quarantine arrangements, when they entered Hong Kong. Taxi drivers who had transported infected sailors spread the virus into the grassroots communities, resulting in a major community outbreak. Worse still, the virus found its way into numerous nursing homes and dormitories for the disabled, and many elderly people died as a result.

When the third wave gradually eased off, experts were already reminding us constantly about the situation in the coming winter. Still, the fourth wave came. What is ridiculous is that this wave of infection might, once again, have been caused by a failure to observe quarantine instructions on the part of those people exempted from testing. No doubt we all have the same question: Why does the government, which has called off the September LegCo elections, banned assemblies and demonstrations, and issued tickets to pedestrians in small groups for violating the social gathering ban citing the pandemic, allow birthday parties and dancing parties attended by a hundred people?

The COVID-19 virus is cunning. It is not just Hong Kong that has fallen victim to the fickleness of the pandemic – so have the European nations and the US. We have also asked why Hong Kong has not been as successful as China, Macau, Taiwan and New Zealand in combating the pandemic. These places have very strict quarantine arrangements in place to prevent imported cases from spilling over into the communities, while China embarked on large-scale testing and the restriction of movements of people in the early stages of the pandemic. Loopholes in the virus testing of arrivals and quarantine arrangements caused the third and fourth waves of infections in Hong Kong, while the failure to conduct rapid testing in high-risk regions and on people who had been in gatherings have made the spread in the communities difficult to stop.

Apart from mistakes in anti-pandemic policies, the repeated recurrence of the pandemic has also been highly related to the rapid changes in Hong Kong’s social atmosphere and political environment over the past half-year. First, Hong Kong people’s skepticism about the government has resulted in extreme apathy towards and repugnance for the government’s policies. But the government has not increased its administrative transparency or tried harder to persuade citizens, but has instead suppressed dissenting views and dismissed them as conspiracy theories. It has even whimsically threatened to make its measures mandatory. The silence of citizens does not mean that they are cooperative.

The government and the pro-establishment camp have also attached too much importance to bringing Hong Kong closer to China by introducing Chinese virus-testing companies and vaccines and forcefully implementing a universal testing scheme and a health code scheme. Some good public administration principles, including an open tendering procedure in which a service provider is chosen based on quality and the implementation of public health policies based on science, are now destroyed even though they have long been in practice in Hong Kong. Three testing companies were introduced for the universal testing scheme. They have Chinese backgrounds, and their laboratories do not have the related qualifications for COVID-19 testing. They participated in the testing of people of specific occupations and the operations of community testing centers, and errors have been found in their work recently.

Lastly, in this wave of infections, some government departments have performed unsatisfactorily. Hotels designated as quarantine facilities have yet to be unveiled after so much waiting, while the previous “Employment Support Scheme” has swollen the coffers of many big corporations, some of which, as reported by the media, laid off their staff after receiving the subsidies. Recently the pro-establishment camp and communist mouthpieces have begun lambasting the government for its anti-pandemic work. Does it mean that they have better judgment now? Just look at how they keep demanding a universal testing scheme, a health code scheme and even cash handouts to those who get vaccinated. There is some wishful thinking about the government’s anti-pandemic work on our part.

Over the past year, the endless loop of the pandemic has been hell for my colleagues in the healthcare service. It has been painful and interminable with no end in sight. Coupled with a peak season of winter, the pandemic has put hospitals under extra strain. Regardless of the government’s performance, my colleagues have discharged their duties with professionalism and have even created some small miracles, an example being the conversion of a large exhibition center into a community treatment and quarantine facility within two to three weeks. I hope that the public will continue to support frontline healthcare workers and pardon the cramped and chaotic conditions of hospitals.

(Arisina Ma Chung-yee, President of the Hong Kong Public Doctors’ Association)

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