LettersHong Kong’s zero-Covid goal punishes residents who did the right thing

If opening up the border with the mainland requires no local infections, it appears to be an elusive target

Hong Kong should take a leaf out of France’s book and make being vaccinated a clear perk in daily life

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A woman reads a vaccination pamphlet outside the Hong Kong Central Library in Causeway Bay on June 19. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 7:00am, 27 Jul 2021Updated: 7:00am, 27 Jul 2021

The Hong Kong government has decided to delay opening up the city to people from high-risk places fearing it would jeopardise their efforts to resume cross-border travel with mainland China (“City delays opening for jabbed arrivals”, July 21).

We have had “zero local infections” for the past 49 days, and this still doesn’t seem to satisfy the mainland and Macau authorities open their borders so Hong Kong residents can travel there quarantine-free. So, is this an elusive target?

I hope the government does realise that Covid-19 is not going away any time soon. The coronavirus will be with us and the world for a few years to come, just like other pneumonia infections. So is the government planning to lock down Hong Kong indefinitely? Is this “zero Covid” target realistic?

The only way out of this disease for Hong Kong and the world is vaccination. This is probably one of the reasons that mainland China and Macau are hesitant to open up their borders, as many Hong Kong residents are not yet protected against Covid-19. Perhaps the Hong Kong government should focus its energy on getting the population vaccinated rather than closing the borders to all.

The mainland, meanwhile, has been vaccinating 20 million people per day. Beijing, for instance, had inoculated least 70 per cent of its population over a month ago, whereas Hong Kong is even now struggling at just about 40 per cent despite various financial incentives from the business community.

On July 12, France announced new regulations requiring visitors to cafes, restaurants, malls, cinemas and museums, as well as those wishing to avail of long-distance transport, to show a health pass indicating that they had been vaccinated or had a recent negative Covid-19 test result or recently recovered from the coronavirus disease. The following day 1 million people signed up for vaccinations, and so far 4.3 million have done so.