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Friday, May 07, 2021, 00:46
SAR should learn from mainland's pandemic controls
By Chow Pak-chin
Friday, May 07, 2021, 00:46 By Chow Pak-chin

Since COVID-19 was first detected in China at the end of 2019, the world has become a different place in the span of a year and a half. The virus made its way to Hong Kong at the start of 2020, and by the spring of that year it had become a global pandemic. Thus far, over 150 million people have been infected globally with more than 3.2 million reported deaths. 

With the arrival of COVID vaccines, the pandemic is finally showing signs of abatement. For instance, in January this year, the United States reported approximately 220,000 cases daily and the number is down to 50,000 this week. Similarly in the United Kingdom over the same period, new infections went down from 48,000 cases to around 2,300 per day.

Unfortunately, not all countries are successful in their attempt to curb the spread. India, for example, has reported around 400,000 cases daily, up from an average of 9,000 cases per day in February. Many believe that the true figures are far higher, possibly 30 times more than the official numbers. The upsurge in the number of cases has been attributed to the Indian government’s complacency and hence their lax approach to pandemic control. Preventative measures are often not put in place, as photos at mass gatherings indicate a lack of social distancing and mask wearing. Even their Prime Minister Narendra Modi is often seen maskless when out in public. Considering India’s high population density, it is no wonder that the country is battered. 

Add to those factors a severe vaccine shortage, and the result is that India has been unable to achieve herd immunity. Only 30 million people have received their full vaccinations so far, while 129 million have received only a single dose.

Hong Kong’s passive — and, frankly, slow — response to COVID-19 has led to several waves of infections in the city, and the SAR government has also consistently failed to learn from its mistakes. There was a formal appeal to the SAR government to ban all flights from India on April 6, but the ban was only enforced on April 20

Percentage-wise, it means only 2.2 percent of India’s total population have been fully vaccinated. To further complicate matters, the intensity of this current wave has now made the country host to three mutated variants that have considerably higher mortality rates. As of now, India has more than 20 million infections nationwide and 210,000 deaths. 

As we know all too well, there is still no cure for this virus; doctors are only able to provide supportive therapies for infected individuals. But sadly, the country’s healthcare system appears to be on the brink of collapse, with a reported shortage of oxygen concentrators and other crucial medical supplies. With so many daily deaths, it is no surprise that funeral homes are struggling to keep up. Dire pictures of mass cremations in open spaces like car parks are being shown on the news as proper facilities are overwhelmed and simply cannot cope with the huge death toll. 

In Hong Kong, so far there have been more than 11,700 infections, with 210 people having succumbed to the disease. While things in Hong Kong appear to be calming down, we have to be on high alert. When two foreign domestic workers were reported to have been infected with mutated strains including a South African variant, the government issued an order for all of the city’s more than 370,000 foreign domestic workers — barring those who are fully vaccinated — to get tested by Monday. However, there is no such requirement for their employers and families, all of whom live in close quarters, sometimes in tiny housing units. This makes one question the rationale behind the decision.

Once again, Hong Kong SAR is passive — and quite inconsistent in its approach — in managing the pandemic. When cases drop, so does our guard. Similarly, the US and most of Europe have also mismanaged the pandemic; the only consistency being achieved is a lack of it. 

But if we look at the Chinese mainland, their astonishingly strict management of the pandemic means that the total number of infections is just over 100,000 with around 4,800 mortalities. And since February this year, their daily infections have been extremely low. Considering that the mainland has a population of 1.4 billion — which is about the same as India — with a land mass of 9.6 million square kilometers, the mainland has been a master in controlling the spread of the virus. 

In comparison, the US, which boasts a similar land area but with a population of only 332 million, somehow has managed to rack up 33 million cases and over 590,000 deaths. Similarly in Britain, a country with a population of 66 million — which is nearly 10 times that of Hong Kong — there are over 440,000 infections and 120,000 deaths so far. 

While the mainland’s pandemic management is no mean feat, its success in epidemic control can be boiled down to two simple principles: strict and swift prevention of local transmissions and equally strict control of imported cases. It is these two principles that the mainland abided by while other regions have failed. 

Hong Kong’s passive — and, frankly, slow — response to COVID-19 has led to several waves of infections in the city, and the SAR government has also consistently failed to learn from its mistakes. There was a formal appeal to the SAR government to ban all flights from India on April 6, but the ban was only enforced on April 20. 

It is clear that the SAR government is not doing enough to control the spread of the virus. Lockdowns are only introduced in certain districts where infections are detected, but this is simply not enough. Many of the reported cases are difficult to trace, and therefore the chain of infection can continue unabated. Regrettably, the government remains reluctant to enforce universal compulsory testing. 

As for the economy, it should be noted that opening a travel bubble with Singapore will do little to revive it. Singapore is by no means comparable to the mainland in terms of its social and economic significance to Hong Kong. Therefore, we must focus on fulfilling the health requirements of the mainland, our biggest social and economic partner, so that we can fully reopen the border and resume across-the-board exchanges. 

Over the May Day holidays, more than 230 million people traveled freely across the mainland for holidaymaking and family visits. Hopefully, Hong Kong residents will soon be able to do the same, within the mainland and elsewhere. 

The author is president of Wisdom Hong Kong, a local think tank.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily. 

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