Lessons for Hong Kong from Shanghai’s lockdown: extraordinary times call for exceptional measures

To avoid a hard landing, Shanghai has implemented a two-step lockdown and kept vital public infrastructure and transport operational, including the stock exchange and airport
Flexibility and adaptability are key to ensuring the success of the ‘dynamic zero-Covid’ strategy; this is not the time to give up the fight

Ken Chu

Published: 9:15am, 1 Apr 2022

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Many like to compare Hong Kong with Shanghai because the two cities share many similarities. But they also differ in a number of ways. Shanghai is, for instance, six times the size of Hong Kong, with more than three times as many people. Hong Kong is also more international in its lifestyle and outlook, with an estimated 10 per cent of its residents being foreigners, as opposed to less than 1 per cent in Shanghai.

But both are thriving modern metropolises and key financial hubs in China, boasting many multinational enterprises and foreign workers. It is often said that whatever one city does, the other does as well, rather like dancing in tandem.

Over the past two-plus years, both cities had also largely managed to keep kept their Covid-19 outbreaks under control – until recently that is. At the start of the year, Hong Kong suffered the grim impact of the Omicron wave, with more than 76,000 cases logged in a single day at its peak. This past week, Shanghai has also seen a resurgence in infections, with cases topping 4,400 in one day.

As with previous waves of infection, Hong Kong moved quickly to tighten social distancing measures, suspending face-to-face classes, capping the number of diners per table in restaurants, banning dining in after 6pm and shutting down numerous venues such as bars and gyms. But there was no citywide lockdown, as plans for universal testing were eventually put on hold.

On March 26, Shanghai health authorities said that there would be no citywide lockdown for mass Covid-19 testing. But, in a surprise U-turn the next day, they declared that a two-stage lockdown for mass testing would take place from March 28.

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Given its similarities with Shanghai, could Hong Kong impose a similar phased lockdown for mass Covid-19 testing?

The city can certain learn a critical lesson from Shanghai’s experience. To avoid a hard landing, Shanghai authorities laid out a plan for a partial lockdown in Pudong first, followed by Puxi on April 1, while keeping much of the city’s vital public infrastructure and transport systems operational, including the stock exchange, airport and international shipping.

Could we adopt a similar approach by prioritising different districts in accordance with the number of detected or suspected Covid-19 infections, instead of an across-the-board lockdown of the entire city?

To keep Shanghai’s financial hub humming, many banks, financial companies and investment firms have reportedly put in place flexible staffing arrangements, asking some senior staff and key personnel to remain in the office during the lockdown to ensure continued operations, with daily necessities prepared in advance for them.

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Faced with a similar scenario, would the financial institutions in Hong Kong consider doing the same? More critically, would our financial workers be willing to hunker down to keep business running?

In fact, I don’t really see a need to instruct workers to bed down in the trading room because remote working, enabled by the many versatile mobile apps and advanced communications technology, is pretty much the new normal these days.

Besides, some workers might not take kindly to requests to remain in the office for days at a time, on the grounds that it breached their terms of employment. Ultimately, though, what matters is to maintain the spirit of working amid the challenges brought on by the pandemic.

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Still, lessons can be drawn from how the financial sector has responded to the lockdown in Shanghai. As the saying goes, extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.

Businesses in Hong Kong, particularly the sectors that are critical to the smooth running of the city – such as public transport, container ports, logistics and food supplies, as well as the financial sector – may need to be prepared to adopt exceptional measures.

Key industries may also need to review the Employment Ordinance and their respective employment contracts to ensure they do not fall foul of any laws.

Beside Shanghai, we should also consider the experience of Shenzhen, just across the Lowu River, which successfully completed a citywide lockdown to quell the spread of the Omicron virus with no ensuing chaos. In this light, pressure remains from some spheres for Hong Kong to initiate a citywide lockdown for mass screening, to uncover and sever any hidden chains of Covid-19 transmission in the community.

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However, timing is a critical factor, particularly given the recently identified and more transmissible BA. 2 subvariant of Omicron that has been found to be behind the sudden spikes in Covid-19 infections across Europe and America.

The fear is that Hong Kong might very soon encounter its sixth wave. A surge in infections would render any lockdown for universal testing meaningless. Therefore, the government has to be flexible and be prepared to improvise in the battle against the pandemic.

Flexibility and adaptability are key in implementing the country’s “dynamic zero-Covid” strategy to suppress any devastating Covid-19 outbreak. Moreover, public health priorities should still override public sentiment. While many of us are experiencing pandemic fatigue, this is not the time to give up the fight.

Ken Chu is group chairman and CEO of Mission Hills Group and a national committee member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference