The city must recognise its competitive advantages and work hard to maintain and improve them. These include its financial stability, independent judicial system, clean and efficient government, free flow of capital, people and information, excellent education system, and talent diversity.

Hong Kong needs to consider how it can make a more equitable market in a post-pandemic world rather than cling to outmoded ideas of the free market.

With neighbour Shenzhen poised to pull ahead, Hong Kong needs an economic transformation of its own: it must end its reliance on the financial industry and focus on creating rewarding, good-paying jobs that benefit more than a few.

The pandemic is hurting small businesses, and companies that survive Covid-19 shutdowns may find themselves with less competition. This is what we have seen following the Spanish flu pandemic and the September 11 attacks.

The slow initial response to the threat of Covid-19, the shortage of testing kits and confusion over who can get tested are symptom of long-term structural problems in the country’s health care system.

Both the government and businesses are eager to restart and revive the economy. But as millions pile back into factories, cafeterias and dormitories, the risk is that a second wave of Covid-19 could pose even bigger risks to the system.