Quentin Parker

Opinion | Hong Kong must accept its Covid-19 setbacks and get on with the job of overcoming the pandemic

No response has been perfect, but while Hong Kong once led the way in containing Covid-19, it now trails far behind other major economies in its vaccination rate

Despite the challenge, it’s up to us to find a balanced approach that does the least damage to lives, jobs, mental health, industry and reputation

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A health worker removes rainwater from a temporary Covid-19 testing tent in Central on February 20. Photo: Nora Tam

Quentin Parker

Published: 8:15am, 1 Mar 2022

There are no easy options for Hong Kong confronting this pernicious, mutating virus. As much of the rest of the world emerges into de facto Covid-19 acceptance, Hong Kong’s approach stands out. Elsewhere, there is an acceptance we will be living (and dying) with this virus indefinitely; hence, the pressing societal need to return to some normalcy after two years of hard slog and disruption.

Things may never get back to normal. This pandemic has long-term consequences for travel, trade and traditional behaviours. There is talk of producing goods and services more locally as disruptions to global supply chains in a “just in time” system have laid bare their weaknesses. More self-reliance and self-sufficiency is getting traction.

Covid-19 may yet force us to reflect on habits of excessive consumption and unfettered exploitation of finite natural resources. Perhaps some positive outcomes will flow from the pain and suffering in terms of more sensible choices for how we live and work.

People in Singapore have their meals in an open-air area at the Lau Pa Sat hawker centre on February 18. In Singapore and many other places, there’s an acceptance the virus will be endemic. Photo: AFP

Having seen other parts of the world hit by major successive Covid-19 waves since December 2020, Hong Kong has experienced mere ripples on a pond. Perhaps this sowed a sense of complacency that is coming home to roost.

Hindsight is all very well, expressed in terms of how we should have done this or that. But very few countries have come out of this unparalleled threat with an ideal response. One only has to look at infection and death rates by country or region to notice stark differences in two-year infection trajectories. We have been lucky till now.

The UK, a country many here still like to draw comparisons with, had an excellent vaccine roll-out. However, it also made serious mistakes that cost many lives. These errors – mostly delays to lockdowns, care-home policies, testing regimes, lax border controls and so on, places the UK seventh globally in terms of total deaths (currently more than 160,000) and top in Europe.

Germany, with a much larger population, has recorded 122,000 deaths. Its death rate per capita is 62 per cent of that in the UK – a stark difference for two rich countries.

To offer a local perspective, even as deaths mount rapidly, Hong Kong is still ranked at a lowly 141 out of 226 territories in Covid-19 mortality stakes, with 87 deaths per million people. Mainland China is the big stand-out, given its population of 1.4 billion, with deaths at three per million; it is a remarkable statistic given the virus likely originated in Wuhan. It speaks to the use of powerful state tools to enact robust containment policies, effective but difficult to implement elsewhere, including Hong Kong.