Morgues upside down, shortage of caregivers, relatives separated and parked in camps… The obsession with completely eradicating the Covid-19 is turning the head in Hong Kong, to the point of sowing chaos there.
The Asian financial center, which is facing its strongest wave with tens of thousands of cases every day, is preparing to screen all of its 7.4 million inhabitants this March and to isolate each infected person. , especially in prefabricated camps being built with the help of China.
But the city is now under fire from critics.
Many Hong Kongers criticize the government for its inability to anticipate the current crisis despite the two years of respite it has enjoyed thanks to its “zero Covid” strategy, painful for the economy but crowned with success in terms of health.
Other countries that have followed the “zero Covid” strategy, such as Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, have now decided to live with the virus.
But China remains determined to eradicate all cases and has ordered Hong Kong to do the same.
Read alsoHong Kong: surprised at a party in the middle of Covid-19, a minister resigns
This Wednesday, the United States formally advised against all travel there, citing cases of young children torn from their parents to be placed in solitary confinement after testing positive for Covid-19.
Emily, a 40-year-old mother, claims to have experienced a "traumatic" episode when her family was infected.
“I never thought I would hurt my dearest loved ones when I was just trying to cooperate with the government,” she says.
Hong Kong not concerned about (low) vaccination rates
More than 220,000 contaminations have been recorded in Hong Kong over the past two months, against only 12,000 since the start of the pandemic except for this period.
The date of the massive screening operation remains to be determined, as does the fate of those who test positive.
In the coming weeks, nearly 70,000 isolation places are to be created for cases with few or no symptoms, in requisitioned hotels, public housing or camps built with help from Beijing.
But this figure barely covers two days of new infections, according to current statistics.
Few details have been released on what authorities plan to do with the tens or even hundreds of thousands of positive cases after screening the entire population.
"If we don't have a plan on how to quarantine confirmed cases, then mass testing will be of no use," pandemic adviser Ivan Hung told reporters this week. , according to which the authorities should rather devote their energy to raising the rate of vaccination, for the moment dangerously low, among the elderly.
From quarantine to forced confinement
In the quarantine camps, residents describe grim, spartan and chaotic conditions.
Last week, several people interned in the gigantic camp of Penny's Bay, neighbor of Hong Kong's Disneyland, accused the authorities of having left them locked up several days after the expiry of their period of mandatory isolation.
“All the measures taken by the government have made Hong Kong an unlivable place.
»
Samuel Ho, a resident of the city
Samuel Ho, a computer scientist who wishes to use a pseudonym, says he received no instructions for his first two days, and his only contact with the outside world was the cold meals placed outside his cabin at Penny's. Bay.
His calls to the government hotline often went unanswered.
“It was very chaotic, very scary and it could easily drive us crazy,” he says.
All the measures taken by the government have made Hong Kong an unlivable place.
»
Cyan, 25, was interned in another camp last month with her grandmother and younger sister.
“It all seems unreasonable and meaningless to me,” she said, adding that they could have isolated themselves at home.
"I'm wasting public resources that others, who are more in need, don't have access to."
The hypothesis of confinement, initially dismissed by the chief executive Carrie Lam, has been mentioned in recent days, which has caused a wave of panic in the city, which has seen its supermarkets robbed.