A medical worker talks to a child waiting to take a nucleic acid test on Dec. 10 in Hong Kong.
More Hong Kong residents are leaving the city in the face of the lingering fourth wave of Covid-19 infections, with the average number of daily departures climbing to about 3,530 from 1,680 in November, according to the city’s Immigration Department.
The city won international plaudits for its successful management of the virus during the first half year, when it reported 1,205 confirmed cases among a population of 7.5 million.
However, the government’s erratic handling of Covid-19 rulemaking has exposed a number of loopholes as cases climb. On Sunday, the city reported 70 new cases, bringing the total number to 8,611, with a death toll of 137.
Since Dec. 10, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government imposed stricter social distancing rules to control the spread of coronavirus, including closing gyms, beauty salons and massage parlors, and barring restaurants from accepting dine-in customers after 6 p.m. It has also limited the number of people allowed in public gatherings to two.
However, the city’s holiday season this year has remained busy as people have begun to tire of the unending pandemic. Many hotel restaurants have been booked up for Christmas. Caterers have seen their delivery orders increase by at least 30% this year, with some orders made to serve 20 to 30 people, the Oriental Daily newspaper reported.
Hong Kong pro-government activist Leticia Lee See-yin died on Dec. 16, with the postmortem report showing a preliminary positive test for Covid-19. Five days later, her husband was sent to a quarantine center, where he tested positive, according to Hong Kong Legislative Councilor Priscilla Leung Mei-fun. Leung has since criticized how it takes authorities to screen the close contacts of confirmed coronavirus cases. Such delays are not uncommon in the city.
Earlier a 62-year-old woman, also a close contact of the patient, was found dead at home while waiting to be moved to quarantine.
Hong Kong has required testing centers to return results for all suspected virus carriers within 48 hours and to return results for all close contacts of positive cases within five to six days, Ho Pak-leung, a microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong, said on a podcast Wednesday. He also suggested the government order people in need of compulsory testing to stay at home and require them to report their test results within 24 hours.
Secretary for Food and Health Bureau Sophia Chan Siu-chee said the recent surge in cases and the increasing number of clusters of infections in residential buildings has led to staff shortages at hospitals.
Consequently, they were unable to achieve their goal of transferring close contacts to quarantine centers within a day, she said.
But Chan said authorities have since arranged more staff and vehicles to fix the problem. “Even the Fire Services Department is helping out now with supplying vehicles,” she said.
In Hong Kong, it is illegal for a person involved in a coronavirus case to leave a hospital or quarantine center without permission. The rule-breaker can face up to two months’ in jail and a fine of HK$5,000 ($645).
There were two reported cases of coronavirus escapees in less than a week, raising concerns about the city’s security measures for the high-risk groups like seniors.
In one case, a 63-year-old fled from a public hospital and was found on Dec. 21. In the other, a 25-year-old woman escaped from a quarantine center and was returned to the hospital on Dec. 24.
These cases show there are still major loopholes in the city’s Covid-19 monitoring system, said Dr. Lau Ka-hin, the Hospital Authority’s chief manager for quality and standards.
The city has also labeled overseas arrivals as high-risk as authorities believe that they triggered the third and fourth wave of local infections. However, the government only recently ramped up measures for incoming travelers, including compulsory testing.
The local government also tightened hotel quarantine measures in November, but only after the city suffered multiple clusters of infections. Anyone breaking a compulsory quarantine orders can be jailed for three months or fined HK$15,000.
(The article was first published at Caixin Global https://www.caixinglobal.com/2020-12-28/news-analysis-cracks-appear-in-hong-kongs-covid-19-control-measures-as-cases-surge-101644160.html)
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