A Tale of Two Covid-Zero Policies: Hong Kong and China
The territory has often imposed panic-stricken measures to keep out the virus. The mainland has been efficient and resilient.
Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's chief executive, center, announcing changes to Hong Kong’s Covid rules.
Photographer: Vincent Yu/APHong Kong appears to have accepted defeat. On Monday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam set out a blueprint for undoing the stringent social distancing measures and border curbs that severely curtailed residents’ daily lives for the past two years. Despite the government’s Covid-zero measures, 3.6 million of the city’s 7.3 million residents may have been infected. The statistic reflects badly on Hong Kong. But that doesn’t mean that the same policy in China has failed.
To most of the world, there is a simple reason for why Hong Kong is a pandemic shambles: The territory is acting on guidance from Beijing. But the mainland has been far more clever and dynamic with the implementation of its Covid-zero agenda. While the territory has been reactive and prone to slapping down panicky measures, the mainland’s economically important metropolises, such as Shanghai and Shenzhen, have been efficient and resilient. Hong Kong and the mainland also have different priorities.