Hong Kong to 'Critically Review' Covid Measures After 5th Wave

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam says the government will “critically review” its experience in handling its latest Covid-19 wave to inform how it tackles future virus outbreaks.

“At any point in time, we need to revise, review and adjust our policy measures," said Lam.

Hong Kong doesn’t have the infrastructure to roll out a lockdown and compulsory testing as swiftly as mainland China, according to Lam, whose announcement of a now-delayed city-wide test sparked chaos and confusion in the financial hub.

The 17.5 million residents of the southern Chinese technology hub of Shenzhen were told on Sunday that they’d go into a week-long lockdown while three rounds of city-wide testing are conducted. In contrast, Lam said almost three weeks ago that everyone in Hong Kong -- home to 7.4 million people -- would be tested three times in March, before the plan was indefinitely postponed last week as authorities prioritize vaccinating the elderly and reducing fatalities in what’s become the world’s deadliest outbreak.

Even with the recently increased testing capacity, Hong Kong can still only handle 200,000 to 300,000 samples a day, and would experience some delays, Lam said earlier in the week.

Mainland China and Hong Kong are the last two major holdouts pursuing a Covid Zero strategy, though the emergence of the highly transmissible omicron variant is posing an unprecedented challenge to the approach. The measures imposed in Shenzhen, where just 86 cases were reported Monday, are typical of an early and severe response that’s managed to stamp out infections over the past two years.

But it also risks far-reaching impacts. Apple Inc. supplier Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., known as Foxconn, said it was halting operations at its Shenzhen sites, one of which makes iPhones. Meanwhile, a flareup in Shanghai has also seen most schools returned to online learning and travel into the city restricted. As cases jump elsewhere, half of China’s GDP and population will be impacted by the latest outbreak, according to economists at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.

Hong Kong has so far steered clear of the lockdowns that underpin the mainland’s response, even as daily cases spiraled into the tens-of-thousands. It’s prompted authorities, who say they are still pursuing Covid Zero, to discard some of the key pillars that underpin the strategy as the health-care system buckled.

Lam said that she’s not considering tightening social distancing measures for now as the current curbs are the most stringent of the past two years. The city has shut bars and gyms, and bans dining-in at restaurants after 6 p.m.

Scant detail on mass testing -- an unprecedented move for the city -- and Lam’s two-week disappearance from public view after announcing the plan, sparked a rush of people leaving the city, while supermarket shelves were stripped bare as residents looked to often dueling media reports about movement restrictions that are expected to occur alongside the testing.

Lam said the lockdown in Shenzhen won’t disrupt food supply into Hong Kong, which relies on mainland China for more than 90% of its vegetables. The city endured a bout of panic buying in February as anti-virus controls left truck drivers responsible for ferrying supplies unable to re-enter the city.

The city received its first batch of Pfizer Inc.’s antiviral pill Paxlovid on Monday, with more supply to arrive in coming months, Lam said. Merck & Co.’s molnupiravir has already been in use for several weeks. Hong Kong added six more public clinics to treat patients with mild symptoms on Tuesday, taking the total to 23.

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