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Thursday, February 06, 2020, 02:09
We must all be united in fighting the coronavirus
By Paul Yeung
Thursday, February 06, 2020, 02:09 By Paul Yeung

The Wuhan coronavirus crisis is undeniably the most daunting challenge we face in 2020. It is more than a medical issue; it has been unfortunately politicized.

The SAR government has adopted a containment strategy, with measures to drastically reduce cross-border travel between the city and the Chinese mainland in a bid to contain the spread of the deadly virus. With the new approach, the battle against the virus will enter a new stage.

The containment strategy was carried out by shutting down all high-speed trains and all cross-border ferry services, closing almost all land-border crossings, and cutting by half the number of flights from the mainland, as well as the number of cross-border buses on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. The central government has also agreed to stop issuing individual travel visas to Hong Kong.

The containment strategy is a crucial step to control the spread of the virus from outside. However, the hard battle arises from inside. There are three major obstacles to our victory over the novel coronavirus:

We need close collaboration between the government and the social and political leaders. Every member of society should play a positive role in winning the battle against the novel coronavirus

The first one is that the capacity of the medical sector could be overstretched. Its resources could become too tight to cope with the crisis should it deteriorate further. The resources do not only refer to manpower, protective clothing and other essential materials, but also psychological support. The medical workers are fighting at the front line of the battle; the government and all other sectors should give their strongest support to them. Their morale is critical to the victory over the virus; any setback of the medical sector would spell disaster. The latest measures will be effective in lowering the burden on the medical sector, which is a good start. The government should keep good communication with the medical sector; and the principal officials should go to the front line to show their support. The leaders of the trade unions and the sector should also play a positive role in the process.

The second obstacle is the difficulty of securing enough premises for quarantine purposes. Many people were shocked by the riots that happened in Fanling days ago when some residents and blackshirts stormed Fai Ming Estate to force the government to abandon it as a potential site for quarantine purposes. People were shocked not by the opponents’ radical actions but by the reasons they cited. They claimed that they voiced opposition to the proposal because of fears of infection and a lack of public consultation. But Sophia Chan Siu-chee, secretary for food and health, had clarified that they would not house patients with confirmed infection but more likely medical staff or those who had come into contact with victims but showed no symptoms. Therefore, it is not only an issue of a “not in my backyard” mentality, but also an irrational response out of fear, or worse, actions driven by political objectives. The government has temporarily shelved the proposal. However, the issue did not end. If there are not enough premises to meet quarantine needs, the alternative is home confinement, which would pose a far greater risk to the public. The social leaders should help to cultivate a healthy ground for communication with the residents. All residents should have full knowledge of the situation we are facing and come up with a good plan.

The third problem is the spread of rumors or fake news — an aftereffect of the months-long anti-government movement. Since the outbreak of the health crisis, numerous rumors have been spread on the internet. For instance, there are claims that the SAR government has planned to use Hong Kong’s resources to help the mainland fight the coronavirus epidemic. Such kinds of misinformation will eventually hurt society. This fake news has been clarified by the government. But the public should be cautious of many other instances of fake news. The coronavirus has developed into a fatal epidemic that can be extinguished only with concerted efforts. It should not be politicized and exploited as a means to put pressure on the government for the sake of political objectives. Political leaders should realize the dire situation we now face and bear their responsibility to build up the social capital and trust to thwart those malicious rumors. Otherwise, all members of society, including the political leaders themselves, will be losers.

Plato said, “We are twice armed if we fight with faith.” We need faith to win the battle. The three problems mentioned above would, however, only undermine our faith. To deal with them, we need close collaboration between the government and the social and political leaders. Every member of society should play a positive role in winning the battle against the novel coronavirus.

The author is research officer of the One Country Two Systems Research Institute. 

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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