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. The April 15 letter “Prepare for next wave now as infections wane” and the Post ’s editorials call for the government to be more proactive in future. The propagation of fear to create a compliant citizenry is a counterproductive approach. There has been massive uncertainty in both Hong Kong and Shanghai , and rigid invocations such as “persistence is victory” add anxiety rather than encouragement. Clear, community-wide communication that gives timely, data-based information is essential for citizens to know what to expect and how to act. For example, it can tell them which symptoms to pay attention to. The Department of Health’s Centre for Health Protection site was last updated almost one year ago, and key information is out of date, with the emergence of the dominant Omicron variant. Experience has shown that awareness of symptoms, self-testing and home isolation is an effective way to address Omicron and causes less stress in society. If people are not able to isolate at home and illness becomes more severe, they must know what steps to take with regard to the authorities without feeling trepidation. The seemingly unpalatable reality is that Omicron is too agile to be eradicated by lockdowns, so the government should stop concentrating on the number of infections and instead focus on the severity of outcomes. Any quarantine and social distancing restrictions should be tailored to ensure our health system can cope, especially the doctors and nurses who have been working under extreme strain. Chief executive candidate John Lee Ka-chiu’s “one country” approach to Covid implies that Hong Kong will not get back to normal life for the foreseeable future. Charlie Chan, Mid-Levels Make daily rapid tests mandatory for Hong Kong Hong Kong was reportedly going to lock down for compulsory universal testing, but this was put on hold by the chief executive. Fortunately, she made the correct decision in the final months of her term. Our counterparts in Shanghai are currently suffering lockdown. We can read the news about this from various sources, some of whom praise the effectiveness of measures while others reflect the difficulties citizens are facing. The population of Shanghai is almost four times that of Hong Kong, but the population density of our city is much higher. For us, the difficulty of arranging citywide testing, food deliveries and medical consultations was unimaginable. Even though the authorities sent medical teams to assist us here, there were many technical issues to be tackled. We voluntarily took rapid antigen tests (RAT) earlier this month and some new cases emerged. Although it is believed that some people did not do the tests accordingly, I think RAT is better than universal testing and should be made mandatory. The results are not 100 per cent accurate, but such testing could be done multiple times to find the silent carriers. Also, the elderly could go to testing sites to do the tests if they don’t know how to collect samples at home. If the cost of rapid testing is as low as that of KN95 masks, it will be reasonable for everyone to do the tests as a daily necessity. We should upload the results with our HKID cards regardless of whether they are positive or negative to ensure no data is missing. Although it would mean repeated actions from day to day, this is one possible solution given Hong Kong’s complicated structure. Jack Chung, Sham Shui Po
