Hong Kong News

Nonpartisan, Noncommercial, unconstrained.
Friday, Mar 31, 2023

Hong Kong’s leaders finally recognise what city lost during Covid-19

Hong Kong’s leaders finally recognise what city lost during Covid-19

As much as Hongkongers are sick and tired of Covid-19, 2022 was the year when we finally managed to reckon with the virus and get it under control. It’s now time for the government to address the lingering issues from the pandemic.
As the year comes to a close, it is hard to imagine all that Hong Kong has gone through and how far we have come. As much as we are sick and tired of Covid-19, 2022 is the year that we finally reckoned with the virus.

The early months of the year were the harshest – the restrictions imposed amid Covid-19 hit their peak with a cap of two people on public gatherings. Residents were suffering from pandemic fatigue, and many businesses were simply unable to hold out any longer to stay afloat.

The now-infamous birthday party of Witman Hung Wai-man was the first and biggest political scandal of 2022. The celebration, whose list of movers and shakers in attendance included 14 senior officials and 20 lawmakers, ended up drawing the ire of then chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.

Held against advice given by government authorities to avoid large gatherings, the party uncovered more than just blatant disregard for scanning the “Leave Home Safe” app. The biggest offence from Hung’s birthday party was making pandemic fatigue “official”.

We rang in 2022 with the fifth wave of the pandemic, but far more shocking was seeing how inadequate our public health system was in handling an outbreak. Patients had to weather the elements in hospital car parks while awaiting treatment. The city was a ghost town. Mainland experts and medical workers had to be sent from across the border to help.

The frightening images of patients lying in gurneys outside the hospital will be permanently seared into our collective memory. The near-collapse of our hospitals made it clear that we did not have the luxury of less-stringent measures – a hard reality to stomach.

At some point in 2022, the government accepted that quarantine-free travel between the city and the mainland or Macau was simply not going to happen this year. At least, it was never a matter of our own volition, no matter how hard we worked.

The government had run out of ideas about how to give people lifelines as they lost their livelihoods and hope. It just kept giving out consumption vouchers. Confronted with a mass exodus of people leaving the city over its strict pandemic policies, the government had to switch gears.

That came in the form of a new leader. Lam was a combative chief executive and the face of some of the world’s strictest Covid-19 measures, and she was switched out. In the end, she paid the ultimate political price. Lam did not back down from the massive social unrest of 2019, but Covid-19 got her at the end.

During the last days of her term, Lam spoke frankly about how Hong Kong needed to open to the world to retain its status as an international hub. She also said the quarantine controls and border control measures had undermined the city’s global status.

But it is now time to breathe a sigh of relief and give ourselves a few pats on the back for surviving. The lifting of many pandemic measures came late – after VIPs who graced the city during the financial summit in October received extraordinary privileges – but at least we are not tending to patients out in the cold, despite our daily infection numbers. The “Leave Home Safe” app is only useful for its vaccine pass function.

We have come a long way. I, for one, am making this my last column on Covid-19.

After almost three years of trying to keep the pandemic at bay, our leaders finally recognised what Hong Kong had lost in the process. Far more than just the city’s status, we closed places of worship, shut children out of their schools, held back their social development and left them vulnerable to lifelong effects that include depression and anxiety.

During this time, homeless numbers surged. Our mental health crisis ballooned. These are only some of the “long Covid” issues the new administration must resolve to fix.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Hong Kong News
Close
0:00
0:00
Don’t Dismiss China’s Peacemaking Bid
Austrian Parliament members walk out when Volodymyr Zelensky begins speaking.
Father obliterates council members following viral TikTok of biological male masturbating in women’s bathroom..
Tsai Ing-wen received a "warm welcome" from the Chinese people in the US.
EU's von der Leyen: "We know this is an era where we rely on one single supplier. China. 98% of our rare earth supply."
China and Brazil have signed a new deal that will allow them to trade in their own currencies, bypassing the US dollar as an intermediary
Elon Musk and Others Call for Pause on A.I., Citing ‘Profound Risks to Society’
“We've had evidence prior to the pandemic that masks were largely ineffective at preventing community transmission of influenza “
Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz:
Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz rejects being labeled a "billionaire"
Jamie Dimon is being deposed over JPMorgan Chase role in Epstein lawsuits
Brand new security footage has just been released to the public showing the Active shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale drove to Covenant Church School in her Honda Fit this morning, parked, and shot her way into the building
Social Media censoring users for saying the true
Smart Iranian fashion designer teaching dummy TV anchors lesson about reality
AMERICA, 2023
U.S. charges FTX's Bankman-Fried with paying $40 million bribe
Fallen 'Crypto King' Who Owes Millions to Investors Was Kidnapped and Tortured
Regulators blame social media for SVB's rapid collapse: 'Complete game changer'
AOC explains why she opposes banning TikTok
Singapore’s Prime Minister says China and US need to stabilize relations because world can't afford a confict between the two superpowers
In a dramatic U-turn against His Government: Judicial Reform Legislation Must Be Halted, Says Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant
Gordon Moore, a co-founder of Intel Corporation, died at 94
Powell: Silicon Valley Bank was an 'outlier'
Bordeaux town hall set on fire in France pro democracy protest
Police violence in Paris
Paris: Some of the police are stepping down and showing solidarity with the protesters.
Donald Trump arrested – Twitter goes wild with doctored pictures
NYPD is setting up barricades outside Manhattan Criminal Court ahead of Trump arrest.
Credit Suisse's Scandalous History Resulted in an Obvious Collapse - It's time for regulators who fail to do their job to be held accountable and serve as an example by being behind bars.
Goldman Sachs cuts outlook for European bank debt over Credit Suisse crisis
Paris Rioting vs Macron anti democratic law
'Sexual Fantasy' Assignment At US School Outrages Parents
The US government has charged Chinese businessman Guo Wengui with leading a $1 billion fraud scheme that cheated thousands of followers out of their money.
Credit Suisse to borrow $54 billion from Swiss central bank
The BBC problem about China
Russian Hackers Preparing New Cyber Assault Against Ukraine
"Will Fly Wherever International Law Allows": US Warns Russia After Drone Incident
If this was in Tehran, Moscow or Hong Kong
Announcing GPT-4
TRUMP: "Standing before you today, I am the only candidate who can make this promise: I will prevent World War III."
China is calling out the US, UK, and Australia on their submarine pact, claiming they are going further down a dangerous road
A brief banking situation report
We are witnessing widespread bank fails and the president just gave a 5 min speech then walked off camera.
Donald Trump's asked by Tucker Carlson question on if the U.S. should support regime change in Russia?.
'No relation to the American SVB': India's SVC Bank acts to calm depositors amid brand name confusion.
Good news: The U.S. government is now guaranteeing all deposits, held by, Silicon Valley Bank, and the funds are available as of today
Silicon Valley Bank exec was Lehman Brothers CFO
In a potential last-ditch effort, HSBC is considering a rescue deal to save Silicon Valley Bank UK from insolvency
Saudi Arabia has announced a major breakthrough in diplomacy with Iran after two years of intense talks
Elon Musk Is Planning To Build A Town In Texas For His Employees
×