Realism is what we need in the Omicron fight
I refer to “Insufficient alignment with mainland model the real issue with Hong Kong’s Covid-19 strategy” (February 26), where Regina Ip questions if we should blame Hong Kong or Beijing for the city’s unconscionable lack of preparedness for the fifth wave of the pandemic. Both parties bear some blame for assuming Hong Kong and the mainland could remain safe in a hermetically sealed bubble while the Omicron tsunami surged through the rest of the world.
We can see from the many letters to these columns that Hongkongers have understood the threat and the characteristics of the Omicron variant better than our government officials and councillors.
Without having active, credible opposition voices in the Legislative Council and district councils, government officials seem to have become blinkered and complacent and ignored scientific data from countries that have been through Omicron.
The Post reports that a Shenzhen official says the highly infectious Omicron variant has “caused large outbreaks in Hong Kong but it will not cause one in Shenzhen”. (“Shenzhen prepared to meet the threat”, February 27). The expression “pride comes before a fall” comes to mind.
As a long-time Hong Kong resident, I find it somewhat embarrassing that Singapore is handling the pandemic so much more effectively. It will soon be back to normal with many professionals from our city already having relocated there.
It is good news that the head of the expert group on Covid-19 response at the National Health Commission came to Hong Kong to find out first-hand the difficulties involved in implementing “dynamic zero Covid” while being swamped by the Omicron tsunami. With good, realistic advice, hopefully we can also soon get back to normal.
I.M. Wright, Happy Valley