Hong Kong at the tipping point: ‘frank words’, dire warnings prompted city leader’s rethink of tough anti-Covid measures
- Trusted advisers warned Carrie Lam city had reached critical tipping point and Hong Kong’s status as an international financial hub was under threat
- Bernard Chan, convenor of the Executive Council, calls for road map to international community on when restrictions on travellers can be relaxed
The harsh numbers revealing people were leaving town in droves, particularly expatriates from the financial sector, finally convinced Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to rethink the city’s stringent pandemic control measures, the Post has learned.
Bernard Chan, the convenor of the Executive Council, Lam’s de facto cabinet, said Hong Kong had been working hard to resume cross-border travel with mainland China, but it became an unrealistic goal in the immediate term given the Omicron-fuelled fifth wave of infections.
Hong Kong could ease social-distancing rules next week; 21,650 Covid cases reported
“While it’s unrealistic to reopen our border with the mainland, we need to spell out a road map to the international community when we would relax restrictions on travellers,” he told the Post.
“We need to align the quarantine requirements for arrivals with that for locals resuming their normal life after testing positive,” he said. “It would help a lot if the quarantine period for arrivals is cut down to seven days.”
Under the latest rules set by the government, a resident who was infected with the coronavirus could resume normal activities if the result of his or her rapid antigen test on days six and seven was negative.
Entertainment tycoon Allan Zeman said many people from the business, professional and financial services had talked or written to Lam recently about the dire situation and the need to rethink the strategy in handling the pandemic.
“I told her frankly that people in the financial industry are leaving for cities like Singapore, and the economy is in a mess,” he told the Post.
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Hong Kong leader hints of possible easing of Covid-19 restrictions as city records 21,650 new cases
Zeman said 39 classmates of one of his grandsons in an international school were moving to Dubai.
“I think frank words from me and other people prompted her to rethink if there is a need for fine-tuning the strategy,” Zeman said. “She can be stubborn but what she was told made her realise the problem.”
“Beijing is worried if Hong Kong loses the status of an international financial centre, they don’t need Hong Kong. They need Hong Kong as a super connector.”
Ronny Tong Ka-wah, a member of the Executive Council, said he had warned the chief executive Hong Kong’s status as an international financial hub was under serious threat given the severe restrictions on travel.
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“The tight quarantine requirements for people coming to Hong Kong and the anxiety about a large-scale lockdown during the planned mass testing resulted in many expatriates in the financial services sector relocating to cities like Singapore,” he told the Post on Thursday.
Speaking at her daily press conference on Thursday, Lam said it was time for the government to undertake a “midterm review” of its current measures as she conceded that the public’s tolerance for harsh anti-epidemic measures was “fading”.
“I have a very good [feeling] that some of our financial institutions are losing patience about this sort of isolated status of Hong Kong, and Hong Kong is an international financial centre,” she said.
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“Nobody attaches as much importance as myself to Hong Kong’s international status under ‘one country, two systems’. With that feedback given to me from various sectors and people, I will boldly take this step to update you on the midterm about the future direction of some of those measures,” Lam said.
Lam hinted on Thursday at a possible reduction in the amount of time arrivals from abroad must spend in hotel quarantine, which is currently 14 days, as well as a review on the ban of flights from nine countries, including Britain and the United States.
She revealed that an announcement on updates to the anti-epidemic measures was likely to come on Sunday or Monday.
A consul general of a European country told the Post there would be a great sense of relief in the expat community if there was finally some good news on quarantine rules.
“A rethink of the pandemic control strategy and fine-tuning of travel restrictions would help stem the outflow of expatriates from Hong Kong. The most important thing is indeed to have some clarity and some perspective,” the consul general said.
On Thursday, Zeman said he had a Zoom call with 16 representatives of European Union countries who he said wanted to know when travel restrictions would be eased.
“The consuls general are so angry that there is no answer to when Hong Kong will reopen its border [to the rest of the world],” he said.
Hong Kong recorded a total of 50,505 departures in the first half of March, signalling that an exodus from the city was showing no sign of abating.
The net outflow of people, which shows that more people are leaving than coming into Hong Kong, between March 1 and 15 was 43,200, according to the Immigration Department’s latest statistics.
There were 44,825 departures in the same period in February, marking a 12.6 per cent increase in March.
The net outflow for all of February was 71,354 people, the highest since a fifth wave of coronavirus infections hit the city in late December.
Thomas Gnocchi, head of the EU office to Hong Kong and Macau, wrote to Lam last month to report that 10 per cent of Europeans had left the city over the last year amid uncertainties over anti-epidemic measures.
Hong Kong has banned passenger flights from Australia, Canada, France, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Britain and the US until April 20. Many residents had reported having to do “washout” trips in third countries if they were in these places before returning to the city.
In a letter to Lam on Monday, the European Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong said the current restrictions were causing irreparable damage to the city as an international business centre.
“It should really only be maintained if there is a clear justification for it. We do not believe there is such a justification,” the letter said.
“Allowing fully vaccinated and tested incoming travellers from any country abroad to isolate at home should not lead to any significant additional strains on the Hong Kong health care system.”
