HK invokes emergency powers to let in China medics

HONG KONG • Hong Kong's government invoked emergency powers to allow doctors, nurses and other personnel from the Chinese mainland to help combat a spiralling coronavirus outbreak, as the city reported a new peak of 8,798 Covid-19 infections yesterday.

Fifty new deaths linked to the coronavirus were registered.

The densely populated metropolis is in the throes of its worst-ever Covid-19 wave, registering thousands of cases every day, overwhelming hospitals and government efforts to isolate all infected people in dedicated units.

The Hong Kong authorities have followed a zero-Covid-19 strategy similar to mainland China that kept infections mostly at bay throughout the pandemic.

But they were caught flat-footed when the highly infectious Omicron variant broke through those defences, and have since increasingly called on the Chinese mainland for help.

"Hong Kong is now facing a very dire epidemic situation which continues to deteriorate rapidly," the government said in its statement announcing the use of emergency powers yesterday.

Chinese mainland medics are not allowed to operate in Hong Kong without passing local exams and meeting licensing regulations.

The emergency powers "exempt certain persons or projects from all relevant statutory requirements... so as to increase Hong Kong's epidemic control capacity for containing the fifth wave within a short period of time," the statement said.

The move came after Chinese President Xi Jinping last week ordered Hong Kong to take "all necessary measures" to bring the outbreak under control, signalling Hong Kong would not be allowed to move towards living with the virus like much of the rest of the world.

Allowing mainland medics to work in Hong Kong has been a source of debate for years.

Even before the pandemic, supporters argued it could alleviate shortages in the city's stretched healthcare system.

Local medical practitioners in the past have objected, citing issues such as language and cultural barriers - though critics have dismissed such talk as protectionism.

Hong Kong has recorded more than 80,000 Covid-19 cases, but health experts fear the real number is far higher because of a testing backlog and people avoiding testing for fear of being forced into isolation units if they are positive.

Over the past fortnight, stories have emerged of parents being separated from children and babies who test positive, as well as elderly patients lying on gurneys outside hospitals.

About 1,600 healthcare workers have been infected as at yesterday.

The Hospital Authority's chairman Henry Fan told state media on Monday he hopes the mainland government would send over doctors and nurses, because local manpower had been "exhausted".

Hong Kong has ordered all 7.4 million residents to go through three rounds of mandatory coronavirus testing next month.

Yesterday, it rolled out vaccine passports requiring people aged 12 and above to have at least one Covid-19 jab.

Residents are now mandated to show their vaccine record to access venues that include supermarkets, shopping malls and restaurants, a major inconvenience in a city where malls link train stations to residences and office buildings.

Hong Kong fell to last but one among the 53 places scored in Bloomberg's Covid Resilience Ranking this month, one notch above Pakistan. The ranking is a monthly snapshot of where the virus is being handled the most effectively with the least social and economic upheaval.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS, BLOOMBERG