Letters | What Hong Kong needs is a citywide lockdown: China has shown the way

Any relaxation of pandemic regulations is contingent on the infection rate slowing down. The mainland’s success in tackling the coronavirus through lockdowns and mandatory testing should offer a lesson

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Hong Kong government staff arrive with supplies on the second day of the localised lockdown in Yau Ma Tei, on January 24. Photo: Robert Ng

Published: 6:40am, 27 Jan 2021Updated: 6:40am, 27 Jan 2021

With 200 buildings in Yau Tsim Mong district sealed off on January 23, the city finally imposed its first limited lockdown. Nevertheless, even after residents in the cut-off area were tested, community transmissions were far from being eradicated (“Experts ask if lockdown in Hong Kong needed; city logs 73 Covid-19 cases”, January 25).

It is time for the government to understand that mandatory testing is only efficient when all residents are involved, which would also require a temporary lockdown of the city.

Although new cases were discovered in Yau Tsim Mong district during the limited lockdown and sources of infection cut off temporarily, unknown sources still remain in neighbouring areas, and community infections in the previously sealed off district could re-emerge. After all, the limited lockdown, which caused so much inconvenience to the residents, can never prevent subsequent infections.

In the face of scattered sources of infection throughout the city, larger-scale mandatory testing seems to be the only way out. The mainland has successfully controlled outbreaks of Covid-19 by adopting the measure of fast and large-scale testing. For instance, the outbreak in Qingdao was curbed in a few days when 11 million were tested.

As urged by China’s top respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan, mandatory testing and a temporary citywide lockdown would prove effective in cutting off infection sources in Hong Kong.

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Hong Kong coronavirus lockdown: 10,000 people confined as police cordon off part of Yau Tsim Mong

Nevertheless, this effective method has received criticism. Public opposition is often cited by Chief Executive Carrie Lam to explain the government’s indifference towards this proposal. I believe this excuse is self-contradictory.