How Hong Kong has made a hash of mainland’s ‘dynamic zero’ Covid-19 policy

The administration has co-opted the term but applies it differently, and even Carrie Lam struggles to explain what it means
The mainland comes down harshly only when and where cases are detected; otherwise, life is unaffected – unlike in Hong Kong

Mike Rowse

Published: 9:45am, 14 Feb 2022

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Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor raised eyebrows last month when she said in response to a reporter’s question that she could not definitively explain what “dynamic clearing” meant, as she was not the “initiator” of the term.

The expression – sometimes rendered as “dynamic zero” – is a translation of the name of mainland China’s Covid-19 policy. Lam’s reply drew a response from two left-wing newspapers here, one of which used the official term in the headline of its front-page story.

What does the expression actually mean? In brief, the mainland policy is to allow normal life to go on as far as possible, but to come down like a tonne of bricks whenever there is an outbreak.

Thus, facilities like restaurants and gyms are open and people move around freely. Above all, schools operate normally and students are in class. There is no mask mandate in Beijing; many people choose to wear masks but they are only required to do so in certain places such as buildings and parks.

When a Covid-19 case is detected, the authorities’s reaction is fierce and immediate. There is a total localised lockdown, closure of facilities for cleansing, compulsory testing of all close contacts, and quarantining of everyone who might be affected. In extreme cases, whole cities are locked down. Individual infection clusters are “cleared” dynamically.

Mainland China’s vaccination rate is over 90 per cent (with over 3 billion vaccinations administered). This, plus the robust but measured response to infections, has minimised adverse effects on the economy, which continues to grow. China’s trade surplus is at an all-time high.

Contrast all this with Hong Kong’s situation, where the vaccination rate has reached just 73 per cent (against Singapore’s 87 per cent, and Taiwan and Macau’s 81 per cent).

It’s worst for the most vulnerable. Just 22 per cent of the roughly 60,000 care home residents are vaccinated. For those in the general population aged 80 and above, only 37 per cent have received at least one jab, rising to just 66 per cent for those aged 70-79. Is this really the best we can do after nearly a year of vaccines becoming available?

The administration seems to have recently co-opted the term “dynamic zero”, but the policy is different in application. Track and trace efforts continue but the system has been overwhelmed by a huge surge in numbers.

Individual buildings have been locked down when one resident is known to be infected but, recently, more reliance has been placed on testing sewage samples. Residents of and visitors to Discovery Bay have recently been ordered to get tested.

Meanwhile, there has been a wholesale closure of facilities, presumably on some kind of pre-emptive basis. For example, all gyms have been closed even if all staff and patrons are fully vaccinated with no infections traceable to individual establishments. The same applies to swimming pools, beauty parlours and other facilities.

Also, regardless of vaccination status and infection record, all restaurants are subject to stringent operation requirements such as the ban on dining after 6pm, although restaurants with fully vaccinated staff can have four diners per table, instead of two.

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The catering and entertainment sectors are being driven into bankruptcy. If our tourism sector ever recovers – a questionable prospect – there may not be any venues left to visit.

Two obvious questions arise and on a recent RTHK talk show that I co-host, I asked them. Why, I wanted to know, was the government so slow to introduce vaccine passports and so tentative in its approach. No sooner had the scheme been announced than the commencement date was postponed. The initial one-dose requirement was only slowly increased to two or more doses.

A member of the government’s advisory panel on Covid-19 vaccines, who was a guest on the show, immediately agreed and said he would have supported an earlier introduction and faster escalation.

The other question related to school closures. This is a particular bugbear because all research shows that keeping children out of the classroom has a serious adverse effect, which lingers for many years.

Suspending classes could scar Hong Kong students for life

An expert from the University of Hong Kong immediately agreed: all children should be back in school, there was no good reason for barring them. What we are doing to our children, denying them in-class teaching when we know how damaging it is to their future, is immoral.

The contrast between the mainland’s approach and Hong Kong’s can be illustrated at a personal level. There is a young boy in Beijing approaching his eighth birthday. He has two grandfathers, one on his mother’s side lives in Shenzhen, the other on his father’s side in Hong Kong.

His parents operate their businesses normally and the boy is in school. Shenzhen grandpa was able to join the family for Lunar New Year and get a hug. Hong Kong grandpa was not.

Of course, we all have a “grandfather” in Beijing. No doubt he was planning to be here on July 1 to mark the 25th anniversary of the handover and to swear in the next government. I hope his visit can still go ahead and that the new cabinet finds ways to get us out of this mess. I also hope there will be room on the plane for a small extra passenger. Someone down here badly needs a hug.

Mike Rowse is the CEO of Treloar Enterprises