Like most of you, I have been keeping a close eye on the daily COVID-19 caseloads in Hong Kong. Recent daily case figures are still alarmingly high at around 20,000, but on the surface it is certainly an improvement from early March when we saw more than 50,000 daily infections for three consecutive days. I say “on the surface” because there are definitely unreported cases as some patients who have mild symptoms do not report to the authority lest they be sent to quarantine centers.
Analysis by government sources revealed that 92 percent of 1,153 deaths were individuals who had not received their full vaccinations. This data certainly speaks for itself.
And if we are to believe that over 20 percent of local residents have now been infected, which is a guesstimate of some Hong Kong experts, there is a greater need than ever to push our residents, particularly the elderly, to receive their full vaccinations.
Earlier I shared the grim news that Hong Kong’s death rate — measured by deaths per million — was one of the highest in the developed world. Now we have learnt that it has actually exceeded Peru’s and is higher than any of the 60 most populous countries in the world at any given point in time during the entire pandemic.
Let’s hope that with our central government’s close supervision and unfailing support, Hong Kong can bring itself to its feet again and contain this pandemic once and for all
Over a year ago, Vice-Premier Han Zheng, who also leads the central leading group on Hong Kong and Macao Affairs, publicly told our Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor the central government’s directive that fighting the pandemic must be the special administrative region’s top priority.
A year on, President Xi Jinping, in a rare move, issued a public statement to not only reiterate Han’s message, but to express concern for the city’s management of the pandemic. It was reported that when Hong Kong’s daily caseload exceeded 1,000, this was the watershed moment that precipitated Xi’s personal intervention on Feb 16.
And at this year’s two sessions in Beijing, it was reported that Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan, who has been successful in coordinating the country’s COVID-19 stratagem, gave both detailed and strategic instructions on how Hong Kong should fight COVID-19.
The collective and concerted efforts of the national leaders were interpreted as proof that our city leaders had not performed well and that they should act swiftly and effectively and make efficient use of the resources provided by the Chinese mainland, such as life-saving medical equipment, foodstuffs, makeshift hospitals and other necessities.
Hong Kong may be struggling to keep its head above water, but I am confident that with our country’s help we can overcome the worst of the pandemic.
Going forward, we need to get to the root cause of the surge in cases, prioritize the health and safety of our residents, and learn from our mistakes.
At a recent meeting in Shenzhen, Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, said it is imperative that our government officials own up to their responsibilities so far, and that it is vital that officials begin to optimize their organizational and leadership skills and be fully prepared to shoulder the burden of their duties.
It may seem that Hong Kong’s administration has not yet fulfilled these expectations, and therefore our own COVID-19 strategy has been incoherent and therefore ineffective.
Before the pandemic gathered momentum to become the fifth wave in Hong Kong, omicron cases were piling up in the United States, the United Kingdom and across continental Europe. It was a certainty that omicron would eventually hit Hong Kong. Yet Hong Kong was still ill-prepared for the inevitable. We could have stocked up on vital equipment like isolation beds; we could have devised multiple plans and “worst case scenarios” for coping with high caseloads; and we could have pushed vaccinations harder, even making it mandatory if not for all in Hong Kong, definitely for those in elderly homes. We could have asked the central government for help. After all, we were not hit by COVID-19 yesterday. It has been around for two years. But alas, we didn’t. We seemed to be caught off guard. And responses were both too little and too late.
Planning a suitable division of responsibilities among government departments should have also been part of the preparedness, but only this week did Carrie Lam outline the roles and responsibilities for our 13 policy bureaus in tackling the pandemic. But then, she neglected to mention the responsibilities of the chief secretary for administration, financial secretary, and the secretary for justice. These three most senior officials should surely have a strong coordination role to play, as they do anyway outside of their pandemic functions.
There is also a question mark over the 180,000 civil servants who remain unsure whether they are to work from home or be deployed as frontline workers.
And in response to the so-called “fake news” about private hospitals refusing to treat COVID-19 patients, Vice-Premier Han questioned the ethics of private hospitals, adding that they ought to open their doors to COVID-19 patients because it’s every medic’s duty to save lives.
In past interviews by the media, I have called upon private hospitals to contribute. As a medical practitioner, I understand that their facilities have limitations when it comes to treating infectious patients. However, their facilities possess basic items like hospital beds. Although the 5,000 or so beds in the 13 private hospitals account for only 17 percent of all hospital beds in Hong Kong, it would still offer some relief to our beleaguered public hospitals if more non-COVID-19 patients can be diverted to them. In any event, it would be a good show of esprit de corps.
And on top of everything we have done so far, we need to streamline the way we do things. For one thing, the swift construction of a makeshift hospital in Tsing Yi intended to accommodate nearly 4,000 COVID-19 patients, but logistical constraints and teething issues in our bureaucracy meant that only a few hundred patients have been admitted so far.
Thankfully, this slack is being addressed by Secretary for Security Tang Ping-keung, who mobilized our fire services, ambulances, vans and coaches to transport patients to this hospital.
This was the type of initiative and prioritization that Han and Xia spoke of when they said that our government officials need to do more and be prepared for the heavy burdens of leadership.
Let’s hope that with our central government’s close supervision and unfailing support, Hong Kong can bring itself to its feet again and contain this pandemic once and for all.
The author is president of the think tank Wisdom Hong Kong.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.