Virus transforms daily life on fearful Hong Kong streets
Hunkering down in cramped apartments and raiding supermarket shelves for food and masks, Hong Kongers are fretting about the future as fear of the new coronavirus sweeps one of the world’s most densely populated cities. Many in the Asian financial hub of seven million - where the 2002-03 SARS outbreak killed 299 people - are weighing up their options against an unseen danger. “I feel like I’m in a washing machine with other pregnant women trying to figure out what to do,” says Natalie Belbin, 35, who is expecting her first child and frantically considering her choices. Her baby is due in early April, a period some experts warn could be the peak of the outbreak.
Hong Kong’s already under-pressure public hospitals have asked partners and family not to attend births to reduce pressure on wards. Some expectant mothers in her WhatsApp groups are scraping together cash to go private, while others have travelled overseas or are considering it. Belbin is leaning towards staying the course despite knowing her partner may not be able to be there. “I’ve accepted that,” she said. “But my main concern now is whether the baby will be safe in the hospital.”
Many of Hong Kong’s inhabitants are having similar discussions about life in a city that has firsthand experience of a deadly outbreak. In 2002-03 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, swept through hospitals and homes. The epidemic left profound psychological scars and saddled locals with a deep distrust of authorities in Beijing who initially covered up the outbreak.
Panic-buying and protests
With 36 cases of the novel coronavirus confirmed so far in Hong Kong, one of whom died, everyone fears a repeat. At the most extreme end, fear and distrust of authorities have sparked extraordinary, and at times unnecessary, scenes of panic. Supermarket shelves in many districts have been stripped of hand sanitizers, toilet paper, rice and pasta, spurred by false rumors of shortages that the government has condemned.
An acute paucity of surgical masks is real however, with long queues whenever a consignment comes in. At one pharmacy last week a crowd of 10,000 people turned up, some camping out overnight. Kris Choi, a new mother, said trying to find masks is all her neighbors talk about these days. One 70-year-old neighbor was looking for ways to make her dwindling stock last longer.
“I wanted to stop her from washing the surgical masks, but I don’t have more to share with her as I have elderly parents and a child to look after,” Choi told AFP. Attitudes have hardened compared to the city-wide solidarity that permeated Hong Kong during the SARS outbreak. Police have clashed with protesters opposed to arrivals from mainland China or quarantine facilities in their neighborhoods. One planned quarantine block was even firebombed. Thousands of medics, including frontline doctors and nurses, went on strike last week calling for the border to be sealed. — AFP