City Beat | Is ‘zero’ infection a myth or achievable for Hong Kong’s fight against Covid-19?
- Questions linger over whether city’s high-profile testing scheme has reassured nervous residents or provided a clearer timeline for a return to normalcy
- Neighbouring Guangdong province is among destinations adopting a ‘zero-case’ policy for potential travel bubble partnerships
Setting a goal or KPI (Key Performance Indicator) tops the must-do list at any private company, because it serves as a critical measurement to justify an employee’s promotion or demotion.
To be fair, the government did set a goal earlier: containing infections to keep them “at a low level”, a decision endorsed by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and her cabinet after taking various factors into consideration, including the city’s anti-pandemic resources. But this approach also came bundled with controversies and debate over whether a “low level” strategy could effectively tame the contagion.
One vocal critic is top Chinese expert Dr Zhang Wenhong, head of the infectious disease department in Huashan Hospital at Shanghai’s Fudan University, who is dubbed the “No 2 Zhong Nanshan”. Zhong is a national hero and the country’s most respected respiratory expert.
