SCMP Editorial

Opinion | Cautious return to normality needed

With civil servants due to get back to work and some restrictions eased, there are hopes school classes will resume when time is right after virus shutdown

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A man wears a face mask, as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus, as he rests next to his bicycle while sitting on a mooring on a cargo dock in Hong Kong. Photo: AFP

SCMP Editorial

Published: 9:19pm, 28 Apr 2020Updated: 11:18pm, 28 Apr 2020

With new Covid-19 infections having ranged from zero to single figures a day for more than two weeks now, the government considers the risk is low enough to order the resumption of its normal services and make a limited exception to restrictions on mainland arrivals for cross-border teachers and students and some business travellers. As a result, most civil servants are expected back at their offices from Monday after working from home. But it is a wary lowering of the guard that extends to venues such as museums, libraries and sports grounds.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor did not confirm whether other rules on social distancing would be affected, noting any relaxation had to take place gradually. Moreover, while the number of cases continued to fluctuate, she did not rule out reimposing restrictions when necessary until a vaccine was found.

Nonetheless, the return to work of civil servants and increasing numbers of private-sector employees, soon after restaurants were permitted to resume operating at full capacity, is bound to raise the pressure for bolder steps. Following the successful conduct of the Diploma of Secondary Education examinations, the question of the reopening of schools should be put off no longer. It would be the most symbolic signal that life is returning to normal.

Granted, classes should be resumed only in a measured, gradual manner tied to progress in community elimination of the disease. In that respect, public health expert Dr Ho Pak-leung from the University of Hong Kong said classes could resume after May 17, if no new cases were reported before then, leaving Hong Kong free of new infections for 28 days, or two incubation periods of the disease. But considering the importance of education to a society’s future and the lower risk of infection and contagion among people under 18, the reopening of schools sooner rather than later would bring an overdue end to a hugely disruptive episode for students and their families.

That said, while the pandemic is still rampant in other parts of the world, we can expect the new normal to be one in which anti-infection measures such as masks, temperature checks and enhanced hand sanitation remain part of daily life.