Hong Kong’s zero-Covid policy risks becoming a trap, says Low
In the first year of the pandemic – before vaccines were widely available and when levels of natural immunity against Covid-19 were low or nonexistent – strict containment measures aimed at suppressing its spread were not only justified, they were the most prudent course of action. Authorities could have used last year to develop a road map for living with Covid-19 and prepare for an inevitable outbreak as new variants of the virus emerged. They didn’t, and are unlikely to adopt a more anticipatory or sustainable approach any time soon – unless the mainland does so first, says Donald Low, director of the Institute for Emerging Market Studies at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Read the Opinion Piece on SCMP published on 15 March 2022.
