Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
/ KUCINTA SETIA
Image : On 2 August 2020, Hong Kong democratic local councilors Tan Haipong, Fang Dazhong, Liu Zhixiong, Fan Jiaqiang, Lu Jiaxin, Lu Wenguang and Lin Zhaolin protested outside the headquarters of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, questioning the Hong Kong government’s political considerations on scientific anti-epidemic measures. (Isaac Lawrence / AFP via Getty Images)
The Hong Kong government’s anti-epidemic measures have been repeatedly changed, and the urgently required measures of Hong Kong people to tighten exemption from quarantine have been delayed. On 1 August 2020, an undiagnosed woman was mistakenly sent to the square cabin hospital at AsiaWorld-Expo by ambulance. Public opinion criticized the Hong Kong government for putting economic and political considerations above scientific anti-epidemic considerations, and it has already had a mess in leading the epidemic prevention affairs.
Based on the official web-site of Hong Kong's Centre for Health and Protection (CHP), on 3 August 2020 there are 80 more confirmed cases of covid. The cumulative number of confirmed cases has reached 3,592, and the total number of deaths has reached 37. 43 patients are in the intensive care units. All newly confirmed cases are under investigations.
The exhibition hall of the AsiaWorld-Expo converted into a square cabin hospital and officially opened on 1 August mainly treats young, mildly ill and self-care patients. However, on the first day of opening, a woman diagnosed negative was sent to the square cabin hospital by mistake.
In response to media inquiries on 2 August, He Wanxia, the chief administrative manager of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, confirmed that at 4 pm the day before, a woman was mistakenly taken to the Fangcai Hospital of AsiaWorld-Expo by an ambulance. At about 10 pm, when the doctor reviewed the patient's data through the computer system, it was discovered that the woman was not a confirmed covid patient and she has no positive test record. The female patient was subsequently sent to Princess Margaret Hospital for examination and virus testing, and the result was negative.
Since the resurgence of a new wave of the epidemic in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong government’s performance in suppressing protests has been strongly criticized by Hong Kongers. On the one hand, in view of the fact that this wave of epidemic is related to people who are exempt from quarantine entering Hong Kong, many experts have earlier suggested that the government should tighten measures for exempt people from quarantine. However, the Hong Kong government has not made a clear response to this proposal until the experts suggest it. It was 21 days after the relevant recommendations that the Hong Kong government announced the tightening of the arrangements for exempting crew from quarantine.
On the other hand, with regard to measures such as how to strengthen epidemic prevention, the Hong Kong government has not considered carefully and made frequent changes, making Hong Kongers confused and at a loss as to what to do.
In the morning of 29 July, the Hong Kong government issued a ban, requiring all restaurants to stop dine-in services and only allowing takeaway business. This caused a large number of Hong Kong people to work and squat on the roadside for lunch under heavy rain, which aroused public grievances. In the evening of 29 July, the Hong Kong government announced that it would open its community centers to allow people to eat in these community centers, but experts questioned since it is also indoors, why were the community centrese allowed to entertain diners but the restaurants are required to close? So the Hong Kong government changed the ban again at noon on 30 July and announced that the restaurant would be allowed to open from the 31 July to provide dine-in service before 6 pm but each table is limited to two people.
Public opinion in Hong Kong has criticized the Hong Kong government's anti-epidemic measures for indiscriminate importance, inadequate thinking, and disorderly rules and regulations, and questioned whether the Hong Kong government has paid attention to the professional advice of the expert group. Dr. Xu Shuchang, a member of the government's expert group on epidemic prevention and anti-epidemic, disclosed on 30 July that the Hong Kong government has not held an expert group meeting for more than two weeks. Public opinion strongly doubts that the Hong Kong government puts economic and political considerations above scientific anti-epidemic considerations.
In addition, according to a report by Radio Free Asia, mainland China has formed 60 nucleic acid testing personnel to go to Hong Kong to help fight the epidemic. Among them, 6 men and 1 woman advance team members arrived in Hong Kong on Sunday (August 2) afternoon. Beijing declared that it would help the Hong Kong government to screen all Hong Kong residents.
In the morning of 2 August, a group went to the headquarters of the Hospital Authority to petition. They were dissatisfied that the chief executive Carrie Lam enlisted the central government's assistance for help without consulting Hong Kong experts and medical care. The question was to flatter Beijing, attempting to intervene politically in medical treatment, and also asked the Hong Kong government to explain. The readers of Ming Pao question since the seven-member team inspectors immediately enter Hong Kong via Shenzhen and arrive in Metropark Hotel Kowloon in the left afternoon, they are exempted from quarantine by the government. This is another example of the Hong Kong government's deliberate oversight on their breaches of required epidemic prevention.
The petitioner said that earlier, many local experts believed that the implementation of universal testing in Hong Kong was not cost-effective, and criticized Carrie Lam for not consulting experts, and decided to let the Central Committee of the CCP's National Health Commission intervene to politicize Hong Kong's internal medical affairs.
Previously, public opinion in Hong Kong highly suspected that the Chinese Communist government would take the opportunity to collect and record DNA data of Hong Kong people for political purposes under the pretense of helping Hong Kong fight the epidemic. Therefore, there is a growing public opposition to sending medical personnel from mainland China to Hong Kong despite government assurance that the data collected will only be kept in Hong Kong for laboratory record.
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