Editorial | Timely advice for Hong Kong as it rethinks strategy on how to beat coronavirus
- Visiting top China disease expert spells out what needs to be done and how city cannot afford to be half-hearted in carrying out such a daunting task
Adjusting the government’s Covid-19 strategy is just the means. The end is to reduce infections and deaths and, ultimately, bring the current wave to an end.
This requires not only courage and decisiveness to reset priorities amid changing circumstances, but also scientific and accurate assessment of the outlook as well as leadership and ability to deliver results.
Whether the government can rise to the challenge will be a formidable test. From treatment and isolation facilities to mandatory universal testing, the way forward is fraught with difficulties.
The latter has worried many, so much so that thousands of expatriates, local residents and Hong Kong-based mainlanders have already left the city for good or temporarily.
06:21
‘Stealth Omicron’: How dangerous is the pandemic’s new highly infectious strain of Covid-19?
Even though the much-touted test is no longer a matter of government priority at this stage, exactly when and how it will be carried out remains of deep concern to businesses and individuals.
This was not helped when Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and her top aides earlier dithered over the need for a lockdown and other logistical issues. Clarity is essential.