For the past month, Hong Kong has been facing an extremely violent Omicron wave.
Hospitals and morgues are saturated, and residents live in semi-lockdown, with schools closed.
However, the island has long been spared the pandemic, with an effective “Zero Covid” strategy.
Despite hospitalizations and deaths still very high, the chief executive announced Monday the lifting of certain restrictions.
“We had 300 deaths in two years and there, it's 300 deaths per day… It's quite incredible”, breathes Aline, Frenchwoman living in Hong Kong with her family for eight years.
A redoubled misunderstanding since the announcements on Monday of a relaxation of restrictions for April in the midst of the Omicron wave.
The opportunity for
20 Minutes
to return to the anti-Covid-19 policy, full of twists and turns and rich in lessons, led by Hong Kong.
Moved from example to city with the highest fatality rate
For a long time, the island has been shown as an example for its effective fight against the pandemic.
In March 2020, the territory implemented some of the strictest restriction measures in the world, which largely prevented the spread of the virus, but isolated the international financial center.
But since the appearance of the - highly contagious - Omicron variant in early January 2022, the territory of more than 7 million inhabitants has experienced an epidemic outbreak despite severe social distancing measures.
According to the official report, more than a million people have been infected and 5,600 deaths recorded, mostly among the unvaccinated elderly population.
According to researchers, half of the 7.4 million inhabitants have already been infected.
Hospitals and morgues were quickly overwhelmed, and Hong Kong is currently among the developed territories with one of the highest case fatality rates.
Insufficient vaccination rate
How can this turnaround be explained?
“We have a relatively high vaccination coverage, with 71% of complete vaccinations, explains Anne Sénéquier, researcher at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS).
But on Omicron, that's not enough.
Especially since "less than half of the elderly in Hong Kong were vaccinated before this wave", reports Aline.
Unlike France, the authorities started by vaccinating young people.
In addition, two vaccines are prescribed: Sinovac and Pfizer.
However, we now know that two doses of the same Sinovac (the Chinese vaccine) are only 35% effective against Omicron.
Second weakness: with the “Zero Covid” strategy, many inhabitants had never encountered the virus until now.
And therefore had not developed any natural immunity.
In addition, Hong Kong is one of the densest cities in the world, a “fertile” breeding ground for contamination.
"We couldn't find anything on the shelf"
To stem this explosion of cases, Carrie Lam, the head of the local executive, spoke in mid-February of confinement and compulsory screening of the entire territory.
"There was a wave of panic: we couldn't find anything on the shelves, the prices of fresh produce went up," says Aline.
Now it's better, even if all the products haven't come back, we're not going to starve.
»
Many families were scared when they heard about this massive screening.
“It has happened that the authorities block a residence and everyone must be tested.
If you are positive, go to isolation centers or the hospital.
“I don't know of any relatives to whom this has happened, but we read and hear testimonies from families who have been separated.
Children, including from 2 years old, were sent without their parents to an isolation center.
And when the children were hospitalized, they were no doubt better taken care of, but the parents could not visit them for two weeks…” Finally, Carrie Lam gave up carrying out this massive screening.
Nevertheless, for a month, life seems suspended.
“Everything has closed, as in March 2020 in France, continues Aline.
It's true that people are fed up.
For the past two years, travel has been restricted.
I have colleagues of Vietnamese origin who used to welcome their parents regularly and who have not seen their family for three years.
This is unheard of !
»
A mass exodus
Exhausted by these drastic and worried restrictions, some families have decided to leave Hong Kong, temporarily or permanently.
The island is experiencing a real exodus.
The Hong Kong borders have seen a net balance of 134,000 departures since the start of 2022. “These are expatriates, but also qualified Hong Kongers, specifies Aline, who is a computer scientist.
Moreover, it shows in recruitment.
I have colleagues who have left and it is difficult to replace them.
All Hong Kongers who have the means and family in London, USA, want to leave, especially with small children.
The children have not returned to school full time for two years!
“And since February 1, all schools, local and international, have only taught at a distance.
Is it this exodus or the complaints of the economic world?….
On Monday, the government announced astonishing decisions.
“From April 1, the Hong Kong government will lift the ban on flights from nine countries,” said Carrie Lam.
In particular France, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia… In addition, she announced that the mandatory quarantine period at the hotel for people arriving from abroad and vaccinated will increase from two weeks to a week.
And above all, from April 19, nursery, primary and international schools will resume face-to-face teaching.
“On Monday, we heard an explosion of joy in the online classes!
laughs Aline.
The mother does not hide that she is torn between relief and concern… “We remain skeptical.
We do not understand the motivation for this decision.
Admittedly, cases are falling rapidly, dropping from 67,000 in 24 hours on March 5 to 14,000 on March 21. But deaths remain high and hospitals overcrowded.
“If they reopen, in addition…., breathes Aline.
They launched a vaccination campaign in the equivalent of our nursing homes.
But to catch up with the gap of this poorly vaccinated population, it will take time.
»
The end of the “Zero Covid” strategy?
Is this reversal premature?
Does it mark a pure and simple abandonment of the “Zero Covid” strategy, dear to this island, but even more so in Beijing?
“The “Zero Covid” strategy has been a lot of constraints for two years, underlines Anne Sénéquier, co-author of
Geopolitics simply *
.
With extremely contagious variants, systematic tracing becomes complicated, if not impossible.
In our naivety, we thought that the pandemic would be a matter of a few weeks… But we can see that this strategy is not tenable in the long term.
New Zealand, Australia, Iceland have abandoned it.
»
But not the Chinese giant, which has control over Hong Kong.
“China still has this desire to control the pandemic for political and geopolitical reasons, continues the researcher.
They want to make people forget that it emerged on their territory and show that China has been able to cope.
" For how long ?
* Simply geopolitics, Anne Sénéquier and Pascal Boniface, Editions Eyrolles, €28.
World
Covid-19: Hong Kong nationals flee city plagued by Omicron variant
World
Covid-19: Hong Kong to lift ban on flights from nine countries, including France, in April
hong kong
Coronavirus
Health
Covid-19
China
Covid vaccine
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