Dangerous ‘one-tone approach’ or a clear and centralised Covid policy? Unpacking why Hong Kong’s health experts have been told to keep mum
- Insiders say expert panel was told to stick with government’s main messages on managing pandemic
- Tensions arose after some experts favoured easing restrictions to build up community immunity
When Hong Kong’s daily Covid-19 infections shot up past 10,000 again last week, most of the government’s pandemic advisers were conspicuously quiet.
They were not out and about, commenting openly on the rebound in cases, giving their assessments of the situations or suggesting what officials or the public should do next.
There was not a word about “hybrid immunity”, an approach some of them had proposed in July, saying easing restrictions and allowing some vaccinated people to contract Covid-19 would be a way to strengthen immunity and prevent a catastrophic collapse of the city’s healthcare system.
This was unlike how they made their views known at the height of the city’s fifth wave of infections in March, when infections surged past 50,000 a day.
Their apparent reticence was not imagined. According to insiders, a turning point was triggered by a set of black-and-white house rules issued recently to them by the administration of city leader John Lee Ka-chiu.
The Covid-19 Expert Advisory Panel is made up of six medical specialists appointed to make recommendations to top officials on core strategies for dealing with the pandemic.
It is understood that while they were encouraged to help explain decisions endorsed by the government to Hongkongers, they were reminded in the new regulations to refrain from openly expressing conflicting opinions.
Insiders said tensions arose with expert advisers on how to manage the pandemic, with a new conclusion reached that they should not make statements that conflicted with the official message, especially if the panel had endorsed a government decision.