Hong Kong third wave: the focus on protests shows flawed government priorities

Failure to address preserving people’s health and livelihoods reveals how blinkered national leaders have become
Unlike someone protesting for rights, someone with Covid-19 symptoms who goes on as if there is nothing wrong is harming public health

Peter Kammerer

Published: 10:15am, 28 Jul 2020

Why you can trust SCMP

A question to backers of the law aimed at safeguarding national security in Hong Kong: what is more important, preventing the spread of the coronavirus or suppressing people seeking democracy? This comes to mind each time I hear of another arrest of someone holding up a banner or chanting a slogan.

Huge police resources are being pumped into the latter. Groups of officers are posted to strategic spots to swoop in and arrest, the order obviously being to silence a right that is legally protected.

Meanwhile, rules to prevent the spread of a disease that is threatening the health of citizens and has brought the economy to its knees are being routinely flouted, a fact evident through the surging number of infections and deaths.

The law, introduced on July 1, ultimately perceives national security as being about protecting the government in power. Politics is at its heart, the crimes outlined being about secession, subversion, terrorist activities and collusion with outsiders.

There is no mention of the need to protect the health and livelihoods of the citizens of the nation, which surely outweighs preserving the longevity of those holding high office. Unveiled in the midst of the worst pandemic the world has experienced in more than a century, the failure to address so important a matter in the hastily drafted legislation reveals how blinkered the national leadership has become.

02:52

Officials tightens restrictions again as Hong Kong reports record-high Covid-19 cases

Let’s get some perspective – Hong Kong is in crisis, with the daily number of Covid-19 infections at record levels in a third wave that threatens to become a tsunami. The economy is in tatters, we are in the midst of our worst recession on record and unemployment has hit 6.2 per cent, the highest in more than 15 years. Recovery obviously depends on the handling of the health emergency, but the ever-worsening figures make for a gloomy outlook.

When I hear that more than 290,000 people coming to Hong Kong were either exempted from virus testing or mandatory quarantine between February and July 22, I am bound to be shocked at such government laxity. Its response has been reactive rather than proactive. Rules are incrementally tightened, as happened with flight and ship crews, but only as infection numbers worsen.

Still we learn of loopholes, though. Surely health authorities were aware that sailors were being flown in to crew vessels in the port and avoiding the need to undergo quarantine. It is little wonder that some scientists have noticed a shift that points towards the latest outbreak having come from imported cases.

Hongkongers have had a good record of staying safe through mask-wearing and hand sanitising, which is why infection numbers stayed low for so long. However, seven months of restrictions, working from home and school closures have left many restless, and relentless news coverage has furthered the fatigue. There is an eagerness to get back to previous routines. These are alarming trends at a time of rising risk.

The current coronavirus restrictions still allow too much movement of people. With the origin of more than 40 per cent of new daily infections unknown, tougher measures are necessary. We may yet need people in some areas to be locked down in their districts or homes, mandating they can leave only during certain hours for essential shopping and business or that they have food and other necessities delivered.

Some people still do not grasp the seriousness of the situation and the need to help stop the spread. Monitoring and safeguarding are essential to ensure compliance, and the very resources for such matters happen to be the same as those mandated by the national security law.

03:25

Hong Kong police arrest 10 under new national security law

A person protesting for rights is not threatening lives or livelihoods. Someone with Covid-19 symptoms who goes about as if there is nothing wrong and infects others is harming individual and community health and potentially causing loss of life. When it comes to national security, authorities have to get their priorities right.

Peter Kammerer is a senior writer at the Post

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