Hong Kong’s government yesterday invoked emergency powers to allow doctors, nurses and other personnel from the Chinese mainland to help combat a spiralling coronavirus outbreak.
The densely populated metropolis is in the throes of its worst-ever Covid wave, registering thousands of cases every day, which are overwhelming hospitals and government efforts to isolate all infected people in dedicated units.
Hong Kong authorities have followed a zero-Covid strategy similar to mainland China’s, which has 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 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.
Mainland medics are not currently 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 the city 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 62,000 Covid cases in the current wave, compared with just 12,000 during the two years before.
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 last 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.
(Representative photo)
