Losing the war against Covid-19 could threaten national safety, pro-Beijing newspaper warns Hong Kong government
- Ta Kung Pao says failure to contain virus would not only delay travel scheme but also ‘have a bearing on other matters as well, threatening the safety of the nation’
- Political commentator warns that a city consumed with fighting the pandemic might not be able to focus on national development goals, such as the Greater Bay Area
“Whether the pandemic can be contained by Lunar New Year all depends on how this war is fought,” Ta Kung Pao said in an editorial on Saturday. “Fighting the pandemic is not just about Hong Kong but the rest of the nation. If Hong Kong cannot put a lid on its pandemic situation, not only will it postpone the full opening of the border with the mainland, but it will have a bearing on other matters as well, threatening the safety of the nation.”
Political pundits said the newspaper could have couched the threat in such terms because a Hong Kong swamped by the pandemic might have difficulty fulfilling its obligations under the latest national development plan.
But others pointed to a more immediate worry: the Lunar New Year festival that kicks off on February 1. Many Hongkongers were expected to use the holiday to visit relatives on the mainland and endure the quarantine period that came with cross-border travel, pro-establishment lawmaker Chan Hoi-yan said.
“I don’t want to call it a national security issue because people may think it’s about politics. But this is the thinking from a health perspective,” Chan said, adding family reunions visits could end up spreading the virus across the border.
Hong Kong has followed Beijing’s zero-Covid strategy in the hopes of launching quarantine-free travel with the mainland and resuming business across the border. After several rounds of talks between Hong Kong and mainland officials, the city’s government was optimistic the scheme would launch soon but those hopes were dashed by the current outbreak of Delta and Omicron cases.
The city recorded 26 coronavirus cases on Saturday, 25 of which were locally transmitted, including three untraceable infections. More than 100 preliminary cases were also detected. The caseload was in stark contrast to the numbers recorded just a few weeks ago, when the daily count was around 20, most of which were imported.
The tally of confirmed infections stands at 13,146, with 213 related deaths.