Bloomberg News
@Bloomberg-News·2.8M subscribers·40.1K videos
Coronavirus: Hong Kong Leader Responds to Lockdown Criticism
Posted
February 2, 2021
Views
1,275
Likes
15
Comments
5
Engagement
February 2, 2021
1,275
15
5
1.57%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
6:49Now PlayingHong Kong is threatening to knock down the doors of residents who don’t respond to authorities conducting mandatory-testing blitzes as the city tries to end a persistent winter wave of coronavirus cases.
“The government can take legal action, including evicting or expelling individuals, or applying to the magistrate for a warrant to break into the unit,” the government said in a statement Tuesday.
The Asian financial hub has been attempting to curb a fourth wave of Covid-19 infections with targeted lockdowns that see authorities cordon off an area and restrict movement until residents receive negative results. The government has suggested some might be deliberately evading the tests in areas that range from densely packed neighborhoods to just a handful of buildings.
During surprise lockdowns in four Hong Kong districts Monday evening, roughly 17% of the 680 households that officers visited didn’t answer the door, according to Bloomberg calculations. The government said it found no positive cases after testing almost 1,700 residents.
Amid criticism that some of the mini-lockdowns haven’t been effective at uncovering positive cases, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam defended the operations on Tuesday. She said they were one preventative measure among many and that the number of confirmed cases unearthed wasn’t the only metric of success.
“You can’t really measure the effectiveness of these operations by the number of cases identified,” Lam said at a weekly briefing ahead of a meeting of her advisory Executive Council. “I don’t think it’s a waste of resources.”
Lam also said that Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed his concern in their conference call last week about Hong Kong’s current spate of infections.
“President Xi has expressed concern and worries, and that’s totally reasonable,” Lam said. “I believe the president is very much concerned. He wants to support us.”
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world.
To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app.
Have a story to tell? Fill out this survey for a chance to have it featured on Bloomberg Quicktake
Connect with us on…
Breaking News on YouTube
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
