Ever since the news about the Chinese mainland’s omicron “patient zero” broke, its “zero COVID” policy has been under intense scrutiny. And with the virulent Kwai Chung cluster hitting more than 170 cases earlier this week, Hong Kong has had to re-examine its own anti-COVID policy.

“We know there is no way to guarantee zero cases. We need to strive to maintain ‘dynamic zero infection’ and tackle cases whenever there is a case,” said Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.

In an article published last month, Lam stressed the importance of raising vaccination rates to protect others and to create “favorable conditions for the resumption of cross-boundary travel with the mainland”.

But unfortunately, imported cases have once again been attributed to lapses in quarantine policy.

Modeling our COVID-19 strategy on the mainland’s has proved more successful than “living with the virus”. We must remain proactive rather than reactive during these times

The Silka Seaview Hotel cluster, the third-largest cluster after the Kwai Chung and the dance-group clusters, originated from a 43-year-old woman who flew in from Pakistan and stayed at the hotel. Despite fulfilling the 21-day quarantine period, she subsequently tested positive for the omicron variant merely days after returning to her home. Following her return home, her husband contracted the virus and visited Yat Kwai House, one of the 16 blocks in the Kwai Chung Estate.

And although its number is currently lower than that of the Kwai Chung cluster, the Little Boss pet shop cluster has been a particularly controversial matter that has dominated local headlines and even made its way to international papers.

The pet shop cluster, which resulted in the culling of over 2,000 hamsters, started from the Little Boss shop in Causeway Bay and resulted in a 23-year-old salesperson, five customers, and 11 hamsters contracting the delta variant.

Investigations into the community outbreak traced the infection to two shipments of hamsters that arrived from the Netherlands on Dec 22 and Jan 7.

Apart from this particular outbreak, the only other proven case of animal-to-human transmission was recorded in Denmark involving farmed minks. The outbreak in November 2020 resulted in the culling of 17 million minks across 200 farms.

Armed with the knowledge that animal-to-human transmission has been proved possible, coupled with the confirmation that community infections consistently originated from imported cases, there is clearly a case to answer as to what the authorities are doing to prevent these imported cases from slipping through the cracks.

Before the pet shop cluster outbreak shocked the community, the SAR government was scrambling when it realized that Cathay Pacific crew members had exploited a loophole to avoid the stringent 21-day isolation period when they returned to Hong Kong.

And let us not forget the controversy caused by Nicole Kidman’s exemption from quarantine last August, when the A-lister arrived in Hong Kong to shoot the upcoming Amazon Prime show Expats.

What these lapses in the city’s “zero COVID” policy boil down to is the failings of individual government departments and their respective heads.

Who was responsible for the Cathay Pacific loophole? Cathay of course is a privately owned airline, but the secretary for transport and housing is responsible for, among other things, issues and particularly policy matters with regard to air transport.

What about granting Kidman’s quarantine exemption on the grounds of her “performing designated professional work … conducive to maintain the necessary operation and development of Hong Kong’s economy”? This decision was presumably made by the secretary for commerce and economic development. Consulate cases are also the oversight of the government’s chief secretary.

As for the decision to lock down buildings and districts, the director of health would ultimately be accountable for such decisions, as well as their outcomes. This includes the management — or rather, mismanagement — of the government’s quarantine camp in Penny’s Bay.

Logistical issues such as delayed COVID-19 tests, prolonged isolation resulting from delayed documentation, and poor catering are the most common complaints made by travelers and residents kept at the facility.

A lack of manpower has also been identified as a pressing issue since the camp was set up last year.

In a bid to alleviate the burden of management, the Department of Health finally stepped in last week and established a cross-departmental team to assist the subcontracted management team. As well as pledging to add more staff, the governmental task force has also promised to introduce technological aids to streamline the day-to-day running of the facility at Penny’s Bay.

Although the government’s revised “dynamic zero infection” policy is a sensible one at that, the apparent lack of cohesion and collaboration between government departments and a solely reactive approach means that we will continue to fall one step behind this virus.

The SAR government’s reluctance to establish universal testing is proof of its lack of proactiveness in dealing with the pandemic. With the central government being our unfailing supporter and given its exemplary success in implementing “zero COVID”, all we need is to ask for its help.

In the meantime, by way of prevention, and with the Lunar New Year fast approaching, we need to abstain from celebrating the way we normally would. This means staying at home and skipping in-person family gatherings, no crowds, no handshakes, no hugs, wear your masks and wear them properly, and maintaining high standards of personal hygiene. On the other hand, it is a good idea to push for more vaccinations during this holiday.

But even if we dedicate ourselves to restrained celebrations for the New Year, it would still be wise for the SAR government to implement universal testing after the New Year holiday.

If we compare the Chinese mainland’s strategy with the rest of the world, it is clear to see that a “zero COVID” policy is the most effective way to control an epidemic.

Nations like the UK, which reported 94,397 new cases on Monday, are opting for the “live with the virus” approach as opposed to the Chinese mainland’s more-proactive one.

If Hong Kong were reporting the same ratio of new cases to its total population, this would roughly equal 8,300 cases per day. Hong Kong reported only 124 new cases on Tuesday, and our healthcare system is already on the brink of collapse.

While Hong Kong’s battle plan is far from being perfect, modeling our COVID-19 strategy on the mainland’s has proved more successful than “living with the virus”. And as I have repeatedly said, we must remain proactive rather than reactive during these times.

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

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.