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People line up to get tested for Covid-19 in Hong Kong, where more than 7,500 cases were reported on Monday. Photo: Felix Wong

Senior Chinese officials are managing the response to Hong Kong’s Covid-19 crisis from a villa in Shenzhen

  • Top-level group was set up last week to coordinate efforts to tackle Hong Kong’s worst coronavirus outbreak
  • Mainland government source says they are working ‘round the clock’ and decisions are being made at top speed
As Hong Kong faces its worst coronavirus outbreak, mainland officials at a command centre over the border in Shenzhen are racing to coordinate the response to the crisis.
Hundreds of senior officials and their support staff have set up a top-level group to manage the city’s fifth wave, which is now worse than the Wuhan outbreak at the start of the pandemic, with more than 7,500 new cases reported on Monday.

They are doing so from the Shenzhen Kylin Villa, located at the foot of a mountain in the city’s Nanshan district, which has for decades been used for official gatherings.

Why Xi’s message on Covid-19 in Hong Kong wasn’t relayed to mainland

The group was set up on Wednesday, the same day media reported President Xi Jinping’s call for authorities to “mobilise all forces and resources” to protect lives and maintain social stability in Hong Kong.

It is being led by Xia Baolong, director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office.

One mainland government source familiar with the situation said officials were working “round the clock” because Beijing’s top leadership wanted a “decisive victory” over the outbreak as soon as possible, noting that the instruction had come from Xi himself and Vice-Premier Han Zheng.

“We were called in without an end date in mind – we’re working here until Hong Kong no longer has Covid-19 cases,” said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

He said those at the command centre were regularly working 14 to 16 hours a day with no days off because “there are too many decisions to make, too many reports to file”.

“Officials and experts from the central government’s ministries are supervising the command centre’s operation, taking care of the big picture and giving top-level approvals,” the source said.

“Guangdong officials provide local knowledge and support and representatives from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government … are feeding us information about the situation on the ground.”

He said the response was being handled at top speed.

“This isn’t like the usual practice where we file reports … and wait weeks for a decision,” he said.

“We’re face to face with ministers every day … all the involved departments sit down with the leading minister, and if everyone agrees, the minister will give the green light and orders will be sent to relevant departments from the command centre.”

Xia Baolong, director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, is leading the group. Photo: Weibo

He said group leader Xia and his team were kept updated on progress and he was giving daily debriefs.

At the fourth such meeting, Xia gave “his full affirmation” to what had been achieved so far and praised the team for their work, mainland media reported on Sunday.

The group has pushed through a number of big decisions since Wednesday, including for two makeshift quarantine and treatment facilities to be built in Hong Kong; plans for citywide testing, with hundreds of mainland medical personnel sent to help; and getting fresh food supplies shipped by sea to ease the shortage in the city.

It is understood that Beijing set up similar senior-level response teams in Shenzhen during the turmoil of Hong Kong’s 2014 Occupy Central protests and the anti-government demonstrations in 2019.
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