Letters | Why Hong Kong, unlike mainland China, hasn’t beaten back Covid-19

Name: Tour bus ‘cemetery’ fills up in Hong Kong as coronavirus pandemic buries travel industry
Uploaded: 2020-12-03T22:40:09.000Z
Description: Tour bus ‘cemetery’ fills up in Hong Kong as coronavirus pandemic buries travel industry

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Visitors throng the Temple of Heaven in Beijing on October 1. Photo: AP

Letters

Published: 6:40am, 4 Dec 2020Updated: 6:40am, 4 Dec 2020

With regard to managing Covid-19, there is a mismatch between Hong Kong’s objectives and its strategy. There is ample room for debate as to whether zero local cases of Covid-19 is the right objective for an international city like Hong Kong. However, if the objective is zero local cases, then Hong Kong needs to learn from China how to achieve it.

This means mandatory quarantine for all inbound travellers; no more quarantine exemptions for certain categories of arrivals until pretesting and/or vaccination verification systems that significantly reduce the chances of transmission have been agreed.

Logically, once you have an extended period of no local cases, then any new cases will have to have been imported. China imposes two-week quarantine on all arrivals for this reason and has been largely successful. Note that China does not see a need for three-week quarantine, and it is ridiculous that some are suggesting it for Hong Kong as it will only heap misery on returning residents without having an impact on transmission of the virus.

During the pandemic, there has been a trade-off between freedom of movement and life returning to normal. We have sacrificed freedom of movement and should be able to enjoy open schools for our children, dinners with friends and family, and group activities, as they do now in China. However, under the current policy, we have the worst of both worlds: no freedom of movement into and out of Hong Kong and no normal life within Hong Kong.

Keith Noyes, Clear Water Bay

Tour bus ‘cemetery’ fills up in Hong Kong as coronavirus pandemic buries travel industry

Enforcement of Covid-19 regulations too weak

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.css-sioo19{color:#c79a00;}Letters | Why Hong Kong, unlike mainland China, hasn’t beaten back Covid-19

Letters | Why Hong Kong, unlike mainland China, hasn’t beaten back Covid-19