The question posed in “Omicron brings Hong Kong to its knees, but how did we get here?” ( February 17 ) was not clearly answered in the report. We got here because people in Hong Kong were reluctant to take up the generous offer of free vaccines early during the pandemic. We got here because of the lack of clarity on the benefits of the vaccine and how it works, and because the government did not require frontline carers or people in health care and education to be vaccinated. We got here because the media highlighted deaths without explaining whether those were related to the virus or to underlying issues and old age. This created fear and confusion. In addition, the crowded conditions in which most Hongkongers live make it easy to transmit any infection. We are now caught in a situation which is escalating beyond the government’s control. What is the logic of testing 7.4 million people and isolating positive cases for what could be weeks? What is the ultimate long-term plan for Hong Kong beyond testing and isolation? The only really hopeful and sensible policy is to require everyone to be vaccinated and to continue practising social distancing and good hygiene. In the long term, the government must also address the housing problem and the needs of the health care and education sectors. Beatrice Lee, Repulse Bay Hong Kong needs a realistic approach to Omicron I refer to “Insufficient alignment with mainland model the real issue with Hong Kong’s Covid-19 strategy” ( February 26 ), where Regina Ip questions if we should blame Hong Kong or Beijing for the city’s unconscionable lack of preparedness for the Covid-19 fifth wave. Both parties bear some blame for assuming that Hong Kong and the mainland could remain safely isolated in a hermetically sealed bubble while the Omicron tsunami surged through the rest of the world, most recently through countries such as Japan, South Korea and the Philippines. We can see from the many letters to these columns that Hongkongers have understood the threat and the characteristics of the Omicron variant better than our government officials and councillors. Without having active, credible opposition voices in the Legislative Council and district councils, government officials seem to have become blinkered and complacent and ignored scientific data from countries that have been through an Omicron wave. The Post reports that a Shenzhen official says the highly infectious Omicron variant has “caused large outbreaks in Hong Kong but it will not cause one in Shenzhen” . (“Shenzhen prepared to meet the threat”, February 27 ). The expression “pride comes before a fall” comes to mind . As a long-time Hong Kong resident, I find it somewhat embarrassing that Singapore is handling the pandemic so much more effectively than we have. It will soon be back to normal with many professionals from our city already having relocated there. What Singapore’s home tests can teach Hong Kong about the ART of war on Covid It is good news that the head of the expert group on Covid-19 response at the National Health Commission came to Hong Kong to find out first-hand the difficulties involved in implementing “dynamic zero Covid” while being swamped by the Omicron tsunami. With good, realistic advice, hopefully we can also soon get back to normal. I.M. Wright, Happy Valley