A woman adjusts a man's face mask on a street in Hong Kong on Jan 16, 2021.
(PETER PARKS / AFP)
Heavyweights from Hong Kong’s political and healthcare sectors said on Thursday the central government’s support is the city’s best political asset as it seeks to quell the raging COVID-19 pandemic.
The comments came the day that Hong Kong logged 39 new COVID-19 infections, including 20 untraceable cases, bringing the city’s overall tally to 10,321.
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The leaders were responding to remarks made by President Xi Jinping a day earlier that the central government will continue to take all necessary measures to fully support Hong Kong’s battle against the pandemic.
President Xi Jinping’s care and the nation’s support are the city’s “best political asset and advantage” in the fight against the coronavirus, said Tung Chee-hwa, a vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and a former chief executive of Hong Kong
In an online conference call to hear Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s annual work report, Xi said he is “very concerned and worried” about the city’s fourth wave of the pandemic that is threatening residents’ health and life.
Tung Chee-hwa, a vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and a former chief executive of Hong Kong, said China is the only major economy in the world that posted economic growth in the past coronavirus-ravaged year, while some Western countries are still struggling to control the pandemic.
By now, Hong Kong should realize that the city has difficulties controlling the pandemic on its own, Tung said.
He said that Xi’s care and the nation’s support are the city’s “best political asset and advantage” in the fight against the coronavirus.
During his meeting with Lam, Xi said Lam and the SAR government have calmly handled multiple serious challenges brought by the social unrest, the pandemic and the adverse changes in the external environment over the past year.
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Tung said Xi’s remarks are not only recognition of Lam and the SAR government’s work, but also a pat on the back to spur on the SAR in its future efforts.
Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun, emeritus director-general of the World Health Organization, said it is heartening to know that what has happened in Hong Kong, especially the hardships that the pandemic has inflicted on Hong Kong people’s work and life, has tugged at Xi’s heartstrings.
Chan said that despite Hong Kong’s decades of experience in dealing with various epidemics, it would be dangerous for the city to let its guard down against the coronavirus, a sly pathogen that could fool the human immune system and mutate.
Public cooperation and community confidence and solidarity efforts are critical for Hong Kong in this fight, in addition to the government’s anti-pandemic measures, she said.
Although the Hong Kong public has observed social-distancing and other anti-pandemic measures, there were always some who failed to comply, leaving a gaping hole, the veteran healthcare expert said.
Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun, emeritus director-general of the World Health Organization, said that public cooperation and community confidence and solidarity efforts are critical for Hong Kong in this fight, in addition to the government’s anti-pandemic measures
Chan appealed to the public to stay patient and confident with the vaccines available now.
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Chan said that she had just received her first shot of the mainland-based Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine, China’s first such vaccine approved for general public use.
Stanley Ng Chau-pei, a Hong Kong deputy to the National People’s Congress, was among the first Hong Kong residents to receive the vaccine.
Ng was one of the approximately 200 NPC Hong Kong deputies and CPPCC National Committee members who received COVID-19 shots in Shenzhen on Jan 22, ahead of the annual “two sessions”, the most important annual event on the nation’s political calendar. The simultaneous meetings of the NPC and CPPCC usually take place in Beijing in early March. The two-week sessions last year were shortened and postponed until May because of the pandemic.
“The doctor carefully evaluated if my health condition allows me to get vaccinated. I didn’t feel uncomfortable, nor had any side effect after I got the shot.”
Hong Kong is expected to receive its first batch of COVID-19 vaccines in February at the soonest. Earlier, the government revealed that it was able to secure at least 22.5 million shots, more than enough for each of the 7.5 million residents in the city to get vaccinated.
Ng, who will get his second shot in two to three weeks, cited his own experience to encourage more residents to be vaccinated.
He said the city should strive to constrain the spread of the virus in community and revive the economy as early as possible.
