Why is Hong Kong Doubling Down on its Covid Zero Strategy?
A Q&A with Hong Kong’s Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan on the territory’s struggle to balance safety with its role as an international financial center — and why stringent border controls may not be eased anytime soon.
Hong Kong’s quarantine rules for travelers are among the strictest in the world.
Photographer: Chan Long Hei/Bloomberg via Getty Images
As the world begins to come to terms with Covid-19 becoming endemic, Hong Kong has chosen to stick to a zero-Covid strategy. With no local cases over the past few months, it imposes one of the longest quarantines anywhere on overseas travelers: up to 21 days in a self-funded, government-approved facility, with multiple tests along the way. At the same time, Hong Kong is struggling to boost inoculation rates that are hovering at around 50%.
Effectively closed off, the territory is brimming with frustration as residents try to understand why stringent measures, like tight border controls, remain in place and why there are few signs of a plan to open up. A couple weeks ago, I wrote about how Hong Kong had chosen to live with the fear of the virus instead of the virus itself — and why some policies meant to keep Covid-19 at bay are having harmful consequences of their own.