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Double rainbows in Hong Kong skies, as the sun sets after a shower on June 16. Within a month, the city went from a few dozen, mostly imported, cases of Covid-19 to triple digit figures. Photo: AFP

Letters | Hong Kong third wave: lessons in pride for humbled city

  • From quarantine loopholes to dining ban flip-flops, government policy has been clumsy and incoherent. Whether Hong Kong can return to normalcy depends on whether we have learned our lesson

The government has fumbled, and we deserve an apology from our leaders and officials. While admitting one’s mistakes is never easy, apologising is a sign of strength, not weakness.

The government should be recognised for trying to strike a balance between disease control and keeping the economy running. That said, the health and safety of people should always take priority.

It is increasingly clear that the latest surge in Covid-19 cases is related to quarantine loopholes. Despite experts’ repeated warnings, the government has taken a cavalier attitude in responding to concerns and criticisms. Aside from the bureaucratic mindset, the overall performance of the government in dealing with the pandemic is characterised by clumsiness, curious logic, incoherence and a lack of urgency.

The flip-flop in the dine-in ban vividly illustrated the abject failure of basic policymaking and leadership in the administration.

04:16

Hong Kong reverses all-day restaurant ban, as city reports record high 149 Covid-19 cases

Hong Kong reverses all-day restaurant ban, as city reports record high 149 Covid-19 cases

However, as members of society, we too need to do our part to help contain the local transmission of the new coronavirus. Whether we can return to a semblance of normalcy depends on whether we have learned the hard lessons and consigned hubristic pride to the trash bin of history.

Jerome Yau, Happy Valley

Free up jobs with voluntary early retirement scheme 

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Hong Kong’s unemployment rate has climbed to 6.2 per cent, with many small businesses and their employees affected.

To relieve the jobs crisis, the government should consider implementing an early voluntary retirement scheme. That way, pensionable civil servants with 20 years or more of service could choose to retire, allowing others to fill their positions.

Where senior civil servants choose to retire, it also creates opportunities for others to be promoted, raising morale. As newly promoted staff and new recruits usually draw lower pay, being at the starting point of their ranks, the amount saved by the government could be set aside in the Treasury for use in managing the Covid-19 pandemic, thus benefiting everyone.

Barry Kwok, Wong Tai Sin

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