Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at letters@scmp.com or filling in this Google form . Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification. As the Hong Kong government puts forward more measures in a bid to control the spread of Covid-19, the perspective of child rights remains overlooked. Every aspect of children’s lives has been seriously disrupted during the pandemic, resulting in long-term negative impacts on their physical and mental health. The announcement of a long list of new measures in recent days has further disrupted their lives, school schedules and activities. This is particularly true for children with disabilities, special educational needs and those who have mental and emotional illnesses. While we understand the challenges on the front line in tackling the current wave of the pandemic, research findings as well as medical and psychological experts in Hong Kong and abroad clearly indicate that children can be traumatised by enforced separation from parents and being hospitalised alone. This can cause children to suffer from anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and other behavioural symptoms. However, recent reports indicate many hospitals can no longer allow parents to stay with sick children . This has caused devastating anxiety for both parents and children. The United Nations notes, “The Covid-19 pandemic has devastating … consequences for children and their rights.” It is especially so in places with mandatory stay-at-home, lockdown or confinement measures and for children in vulnerable situations. The UN has also urged governments to come up with better child protection plans. There is emerging evidence that violence against children in all forms is increasing, from domestic violence and abuse at home to online and offline exploitation as a result of changing social and economic circumstances. In Hong Kong, social workers and child protection groups have reported a rise in child abuse cases during the pandemic, with more children falling victim to neglect and physical, mental and sexual harm. In 2021, the Social Welfare Department received 1,367 newly reported child abuse cases, compared to 940 cases in 2020 and 1,006 cases in 2019. These figures are likely under-reported as many cases remain undetected because of school closures. The Convention on the Rights of the Child has been in effect in Hong Kong since 1994. Children’s basic rights to education, protection, leisure and play, health and the right to be with their parents need to be honoured in good times as well as times of emergency, like now. The government needs to keep the community informed of its actions in upholding the rights of children and provide prompt information and access to support for children and families caught in the midst of all these challenges. Billy Wong, executive secretary, Hong Kong Committee on Children’s Rights Reconsider need for in-person mass testing I’m not against mass testing . If we insist on in-person testing, though, we should all clear a rapid test before we leave home and bring the test results with us to the testing centres. Those who don’t have rapid testing kits could register online to receive them from the government by post. The best course of action would be to avoid in-person mass testing. Here is my proposed solution. Allow people to register online with their Hong Kong ID to have a testing kit mailed to them at home. Ask people to take a video of themselves doing the test and keep the record for potential random audits. The video should show them taking the test and putting the test in a one-time sealable bag. The kit should come with a prepaid return envelope. Test results would be uploaded to their “Leave Home Safe” app. Of course, if they are positive, they will be alerted to self-quarantine until further notice. Even if we have more than 500 testing centres to reduce foot traffic, it is difficult to account for the exposure from going to and from the testing centres by public transport. I urge the government to reconsider the process. Vivian Lee, Mid-Levels Link vouchers to vaccines to end madness In response to a question about why he had delinked the HK$10,000 (US$1,280) consumption vouchers from vaccination, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-Po said, “For these elderly [people], perhaps in terms of financial relief, they are the most needy. My experience with the elderly is that if this HK$10,000 is not going to be paid to them, and if they have not been vaccinated, that will cause tremendous stress for these elderly [people].” This is the point. The elderly should be made to feel that things will be stressful if they do not vaccinate or get a medical exemption. The entire city is being held hostage because of the low vaccination rate of the elderly. Why is it OK to stress out the rest of the population with threats of forced isolation, businesses shutdowns and job losses? If the first handout had been tied to a vaccine requirement, we wouldn’t be in this situation now. Meanwhile, the government plans to conduct mass testing and has identified sites to provide 50,000 beds for community isolation and testing facilities. We have thousands of people testing positive a day. Clearly it is impossible to isolate even a minority of the cases that we will have by then, making it pointless to isolate anybody. We should scrap these isolation units and build rapid response medical units that can hold and treat those with serious illnesses. David Lo, Tuen Mun