Government workers are preparing a mobile test unit outside a closed building in Hong Kong’s Kwun Tong district on January 31st.
Photographer: Paul Yeung / Bloomberg
Photographer: Paul Yeung / Bloomberg
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Hong Kong is threatening to knock down the doors of residents who do not respond to mandatory testing authorities, as the city tries to end a persistent winter wave of coronavirus cases.
“The government can take legal action, including removing people or requesting a magistrate for a warrant for entry and forced entry into a unit,” authorities said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Asian financial center has tried to reduce a fourth wave of Covid-19 infections with targeted blockages that have seen authorities surrounding an area and restricting traffic until residents receive negative results. The government has suggested that some may deliberately evade tests in areas ranging from densely packed neighborhoods to just a handful of buildings.
Hong Kong lifts second blockade in Kowloon for Covid tests
On Monday night, during the surprise blockade in four districts of Hong Kong, about 17% of the 680 households visited by officers did not respond to the door, according to Bloomberg calculations. The government said it found no positive cases after testing nearly 1,700 residents.
“Ambush style”
Hong Kong, a dense city full of 7.5 million people, has been relatively unscathed by the virus compared to other major financial centers. The city has recorded less than 10,500 cases in total and only 182 deaths since the pandemic began.
But Hong Kong, which saw cases of the virus in early 2020 as it began to spread around the world, has encountered more waves than many other places and is now enduring an extended round of stop-start social distancing restrictions. . Residents and business owners looking forward to the end of a recession caused by months of street protests, followed by a pandemic, must now endure what chief executive Carrie Lam called “ambush-style operations. ”
Hong Kong authorities have carried out eight operations and tested about 10,000 people since January 23, but have found only a total of 14 cases of coronavirus positive. The last six mini-locks did not reveal any positive cases.
Amid repeated criticism that the mini-blockade tactic was not effective, Lam defended the government’s methods on Tuesday. She said that they are just a preventive measure among many and that the number of confirmed cases discovered was not the only measure of success.
Photographer: Paul Yeung / Bloomberg
“You can’t really measure the effectiveness of these operations based on the number of cases identified,” Lam said in a weekly briefing ahead of an executive advisory board meeting. “I don’t think it’s a waste of resources.”
Beijing’s concern
These targeted test flashes should not replace other efforts to detect and test people across the transmission chain, said Leung Chi-chiu, a former chairman of the Hong Kong Medical Association’s advisory committee on communicable diseases.
“Blocking for 12 hours and testing cannot detect incubation cases,” Leung said. “It is important to avoid giving a false sense of security. If this will cause a delay in going for a reassessment for any resident with new symptoms, that could cause another embarrassing outbreak.
In his remarks on Tuesday, Lam said Chinese President Xi Jinping had expressed concern about the current series of infections in Hong Kong at a conference call last week.
“President Xi has expressed his concern and concerns and this is totally reasonable,” Lam said. “I think the president is very worried. He wants to support us. ”
– With the assistance of Jinshan Hong and Jon Herskovitz
(Updates throughout with new details.)