Lam Defends Government (In)actions

Lam is back and now leading the effort to stop the coronavirus from spreading

Finally Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is back in Hong Kong, and finally some action is being taken to try to stop the Wuhan coronavirus from spreading in the city.

Hours after landing from Davos, Switzerland, Lam held a 90-minute press conference where she announced primary and secondary schools will be closed until February 17 and it seems universities are following suit, all travelers who are not Hong Kong residents must fill out health forms, and everyone should wear masks. Currently Hong Kong has five confirmed cases, and worldwide there are over 1,400 cases, and 41 deaths.

Upcoming Standard Chartered Marathon has been scrapped

She insisted that her administration was not waiting for her to get back. "Even when I was in Davos I never stopped liaising with Secretary for Health Sophia Chan and Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung."

Then how come they didn't see it necessary for all travelers on the high speed rail to West Kowloon didn't have to fill out health declaration forms and why was the second infected patient in Hong Kong allowed to leave for Manila? Yesterday the Philippine government said it was flying back all Chinese nationals in a bid to lessen the number of coronavirus cases there.

In addition the Standard Chartered Marathon that was supposed to be held February 9 is cancelled, which makes people like me half relieved, but also half shrugging. I could have done the race, as I have been training for it. But I will continue training anyway.

Lam said the new package of measures was introduced because the situation had reached a "critical point", two days after the city's first confirmed case.

A lot of people are wearing masks in public spaces

But surely she must remember from 2003 that these cases can spread very fast? The government needed to be more aggressive in the first few days, not dither.

However, health experts had called on the government to immediately shut down the border with the mainland, but Lam refused, saying it was "inappropriate and impractical" to shut down all ports linked to the mainland.

What does she mean by "inappropriate"? This is about life and death for some people who have been infected by this virulent strain. Does she mean the flow of food coming from the mainland? She needs to explain for people to understand instead of just saying it's "inappropriate".

A labour union representing medical staff said public doctors had threatened to strike if the government refused to shut the border.

"Maybe we have become used to more radical moves in the past few months, but I hope medical staff will not resort to a confrontational approach to fight for their cause," Lam said.

Yuen Kwok-yung (right) says the coronavirus is contagious

These doctors would not threaten such drastic action if they felt they could handle the caseloads. They are genuinely terrified of what could happen if not enough is done to prevent more cases from coming into Hong Kong and spreading.

As for the shortage of masks, Lam said she had written to the State Council for cooperation. Why are we asking the mainland for masks. Shouldn't we be buying supplies from elsewhere? I have relatives who are terrified that the mainland would sell recycled masks. That shows how much confidence they have in Chinese-made products...

Microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung from the University of Hong Kong believes this coronavirus is highly contagious.

"Hong Kong or Macau or other world cities could easily become another Wuhan or another 2003 Hong Kong," Yuen said in an online message, referring to the SARS outbreak in 2003 that killed 299 people, including eight medical staff.

Most people on the streets are wearing masks as a precaution. Strangely those non-Chinese who cough, don't...

Challenging Year of the Rat Ahead

Medical staff in Wuhan in protective gear... that they are running out of

Again the Hong Kong government is being caught flat footed in dealing with the Wuhan coronavirus that is baffling health experts because many of the first few people who died did not have elevated temperatures.

While many cities in China have gone into lock down in a bid to slow the spread of the virulent virus, Shanghai Disneyland is closed, cinemas shut, and temple fairs have been cancelled. Even Macau has made some prudent decisions, including the possibility of shutting down casinos, and keeping schools shut an extra two weeks.

Carrie Lam seems more interested in wooing elites in Davos

This would have been an excellent opportunity for Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to show some leadership, but instead she's been busy in Davos, Switzerland, serving dim sum to world political and business leaders to tell them Hong Kong is open for business.

Local media are questioning whether Lam should be hobnobbing with business and political elites when people back home are panicking because they can't get a hold of any masks, and if they do the price is several times what they are usually sold at.

There are no definitive decisions being made by the government. It is only when the public and media complain are the authorities pressured to do something... or wait. But in a medical crisis like this, time is of the essence.

Hongkongers desperate to buy masks, a repeat of 2003

Did the Hong Kong government not learn anything from when SARS hit Hong Kong in 2003?

Borders need to be shut down, not allowing cars to go on the Hong Kong-Macau-Zhu Hai bridge free of charge for a week, and making everyone traveling into the city write down their contact details, while setting aside more than just holiday campsites for quarantine.

How about shutting down Hong Kong Disneyland and Ocean Park? Lam and her administration seem to have no idea what to do.

The timing of this coronavirus is particularly bad now with Chinese New Year and millions of people in China are traveling around the country.

Shanghai Disneyland is shut... what about Hong Kong's?

Meanwhile it is painful to hear the stories coming out of Wuhan. Medical staff are desperate for fresh supplies of gowns, masks, and eyewear to protect themselves. There's video footage going viral of a medical personnel breaking down in hysterics in the staff room as others try to relax on their break.

There are stories of people in Wuhan trying to get into hospitals because they know they are ill and yet they are not being admitted and forced to go back home because it's already crowded. This is not a good way of managing the crisis either.

Lam will definitely face a barrage of questions from the media when she gets back, and also how will President Xi Jinping quell people's anger and frustration at the spread of this coronavirus?

The latest news is that 40 medical personnel from the People's Liberation Army have been dispatched to Wuhan tonight and more to follow. Hopefully they are bringing in more supplies too.

Wuhan is building a makeshift hospital in six days

But perhaps even more crazier is that Wuhan is trying to build a makeshift hospital in six days to house 1,000 patients. However, this is exactly what was done 17 years ago outside of Beijing for the PLA to treat almost 15 percent of SARS patients in China for two months.

We have now started the Year of the Rat with a coronavirus that has at least 918 cases worldwide and 26 deaths. Not exactly a good start, but we can only hope things can get better?

Hong Kong's Inept Leadership on Coronavirus

About half of people I saw today wore masks as a precaution in public areas

After last night's news of Hong Kong having two confirmed cases of patients testing positive with the coronavirus, this morning many people wore surgical masks in public. Some of my colleagues wore masks because they were coughing, or others wore the protective gear to prevent themselves from catching anything.

Not having been here in 2003, I was reticent about what to do -- was it that serious? But it seems like it is better to err on the side of caution these days. You never know if the person next to you isn't feeling well.

Why can the MTR be stopped and not the high speed rail?

However, the supply of masks has run out in many pharmacies in Hong Kong, making people panic even more.

But in a way they have a right to worry as the Hong Kong government seems to take a laissez-faire attitude towards the coronavirus that originated from an animal market in Wuhan, in Hubei province.

Even health experts are chastising the government for acting so slowly in trying to contain or prevent cases from coming into the city.

"There is so much more the Hong Kong government can do. They have done so little so far," said Dr. Arisina Ma Chung-yee, president of the Hong Kong Public Doctors' Association. "The checks at the border are insufficient."

Dr Ho Pak-leung says the government needs to do more

Previously there was no need for passengers traveling on the high speed rail to the West Kowloon terminus to fill out a health card which is outrageous. It turns out many of the suspected and confirmed cases were of passengers who took this mode of transport to Hong Kong. If they don't fill out health cards with contact details, how can the authorities track them down as soon as possible?

And with the first suspected case in Hong Kong, why did the authorities allow them to leave Hong Kong and go to Manila to possibly infect another country? It boggles the mind.

Ma also urged the government to consider giving away free masks in public facilities like libraries, to prevent the spread of germs.

Dr Ho Pak-leung from the University of Hong Kong said the government was now doing worse than in 2003, when the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) killed 299 people in the city. At the time everyone entering Hong Kong had to fill out a health form.

"Hong Kong needs to wake up. We all need to wake up. The situation right now is very severe," he said.

People want to travel home for Chinese New Year

Ho added the government should issue the black travel alert to Wuhan, meaning everyone should avoid going there; at present there is only a black alert for Syria.

He also said doctors had claimed many sick mainlanders were trying to come to Hong Kong to seek medical treatment, and this showed the need to step up border controls.

But perhaps the government is caught flat-footed because our fearless leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is not here but in Davos trying to sell Hong Kong, when she should be delegating more power to her ministers to do everything possible to minimize the coronavirus from spreading in the city. But it seems our city is being run top-down, and since our chief executive isn't here, her ministers don't seem to know what to do.

Political scientist and commentator Simon Shen Xu Hui points out that the MTR can be shut down at anytime because of the protests, but nothing has been done to shut down the high speed rail to prevent the coronavirus from coming into Hong Kong.

A suspected case in Central startles people in the area

But perhaps even worse is mainlanders in China are unaware or not given enough information about the seriousness of the Wuhan coronavirus. For example on tonight's news on CCTV, President Xi Jinping's speech at a Spring Festival banquet was the top story, followed by New Year cultural activities around the country, a happy report on people at Beijing West train station traveling home, and a story on how the rehearsals are going for the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. The Wuhan coronavirus was the fifth news item.

No wonder people are trying to get into Hong Kong to find out what's really going on.

This outbreak is really bad timing -- with Chinese New Year days away, how do you prevent masses of people from congregating or traveling around?

After dinner I took a stroll along the waterfront and one woman was running with a mask on which seemed like overkill. How was she able to breathe? In any event, it looks like wearing masks in public will be de rigeur in the next few weeks at least...

Lam on Charm Offensive in Davos

Can Carrie Lam persuade world leaders Hong Kong is open for business?

Hong Kong's fearless leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is in Davos, Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum in the hopes of persuading leading political and financial figures that our city is still open for business.

Her visit coincides with a report by Moody's Investors Service that has downgraded Hong Kong's rating by one notch to Aa3 from Aa2. In September, Fitch Ratings cut Hong Kong's sovereign rating  to AA from AA+.

"Team HK" is in Davos for the World Economic Forum

Moody's says the downgrading is due to concerns the government has not been able to quell the political and economic issues from eight months of protests.

"The downgrade principally reflects Moody's view that Hong Kong's institutions and governance strength is lower than previously estimated," said Marie Diron, managing director of Moody's sovereign risk group, and Martin Petch, vice-president and senior credit officer of sovereign risk group, said in a statement on Monday night.

"The absence of tangible plans to address either the political or economic and social concerns of the Hong Kong population that have come to the fore in the past nine months may reflect weaker inherent institutional capacity than Moody's had previously assessed," the New York-based credit rating agency said.

Protests are still happening, one of the latest in Landmark

It described the government's response to demands for greater political freedoms and expensive living costs as "notably slow, tentative and inconclusive".

"It may also point to more significant constraints on the autonomy of Hong Kong's institutions than previously thought," the agency added, hinting pressure from Beijing.

This is a pretty big strike against Lam and her administration, who are bringing "Team HK", including the trade secretary, top officials from the stock exchange, airport authority, MTR Corp and the head of Swire Group to the Swiss mountain resort.

But perhaps a more eminent threat is the Wuhan pneumonia that is spreading quickly (or we just haven't been told the truth about it all along), and it is only a matter of time before the first confirmed cases are in Hong Kong.

The corona virus in Wuhan is spreading very quickly

If Hong Kong does experience another SARS outbreak, that will be a double blow to the city's economy that has already been battered by the protests.

News of the pneumonia-like virus spreading resulted in Asian stocks taking a battering, and Hong Kong more so with the downgrade from Moody's.

How is Lam going to convince world leaders that she can lead the city out of these crises? She hasn't demonstrated any kind of leadership in the past eight months...