Opinion | Repeated government failures to get to grips with Covid-19 are hurting Hong Kong
- The impression is of a huge gap between strategic decision-making at the top and conditions on the ground
- There is no evidence of a proper monitoring system to identify problems; rather, officials appear to be making ad hoc decisions in response to individual events
Not surprisingly, the subject of Covid-19 has attracted considerable media coverage for most of this year. As someone who closely studies the print media, and who co-hosts a talk show on RTHK each week, I naturally get to hear and read a lot about the pandemic.
What is surprising is how often I am surprised by new nuggets of information. For example, in mid-August, then-Legislative Council member Kwok Ka-ki told a radio audience that some 300,000 people were exempt from health checks at the border and allowed to freely enter Hong Kong.
In subsequent weeks, other worrying information came to light. For example, many of those returning to Hong Kong from overseas who were subject to quarantine were allowed to do so at home. Only officials living in large flats with multiple bathrooms could believe this was going to be effective.
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In average households, it would be impossible to avoid close contact with other family members – all of whom were free to wonder the streets and mingle with the community.