Coronavirus: Hong Kong lawmakers suggest using cruise ships for quarantine, drones to airlift in supplies amid surging fifth wave
- Other suggestions at virtual Legco meeting included ferrying Covid-19 patients to mainland for treatment and establishing ‘war room-like’ pandemic headquarters
- Some also called on residents to ‘complain less’ and ‘tolerate more’ as fifth wave of infections continues to overwhelm government’s response
Several Hong Kong lawmakers have suggested using empty cruise ships as makeshift quarantine facilities, while others have called on residents to “complain less” and “tolerate more” amid an ongoing surge in coronavirus cases that has overwhelmed the government’s response.
Other suggestions floated on Wednesday included allowing willing patients to be ferried across the border to mainland China for treatment, and establishing “war room-like” headquarters for fighting the pandemic.
Following a spate of infections among cross-border truck drivers that hampered the supply of food and goods to the city, some also proposed using trains or drones to deliver necessities.
The lawmakers, elected in December in the first major poll since Beijing’s “patriots-only” political overhaul, convened online on Wednesday for their weekly Legislative Council meeting to pass a customary motion of thanks for the chief executive’s policy address, delivered in October.
The policy blueprint, issued before the onset of the fifth wave, focused largely on boosting land supply and building a new metropolis in northern Hong Kong. But with case numbers skyrocketing, lawmakers on Wednesday turned their attention to the city’s uphill battle against the pandemic.
Hong Kong confirmed more than 4,200 new Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, doubling the previous record for most cases in a single day set earlier this week.
Lawmakers also thanked Beijing, Hong Kong officials and frontline workers for their anti-pandemic efforts, with some urging the public to be more considerate.