The Chief Secretary for Administration Li Jiachao led a delegation to Shenzhen and held the second meeting on the epidemic prevention situation between the two places with the Mainland on Thursday (25th).
Customs clearance between Hong Kong and the Mainland is in sight, and the arrangements for preventing foreign imports and internal non-proliferation must be foolproof. There is a need to improve measures such as "traveling with peace of mind".
But on the other hand, with the escalation of epidemic prevention measures, the government may also consider relaxing restrictions on the number of people eating in restaurants to facilitate economic activities.
As Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said, Hong Kong continues to create conditions for customs clearance, including increasing vaccination rates, eliminating quarantine exemptions for most people, and forcing more places to use the "Travel with peace of mind" application.
Following the mandatory use of "safe travel" to enter and exit government venues from the beginning of the month, the government announced that from the 9th of next month, the scope of use will be extended to all restaurants, theaters, fitness centers and hotels under the "Prevention and Control of Disease Regulations" Premises regulated by Chapter 599F.
The virus does not distinguish between private and public places, nor does it distinguish between types of restaurants. In addition, there are many loopholes in "paper fillers". Scanning codes in more places will help relevant government departments to track the route of infection and find close contacts.
The Secretary for Food and Health, Chen Zhaoshi, said frankly at the press conference that Hong Kong has reached the goal of "zeroing out". Only under the principle of "preventing foreign imports and preventing internal rebounds", the epidemic prevention measures must be continuously tightened and adjusted. The risk of outbreak is minimized to facilitate customs clearance with the mainland in the future.
(Photo by Liang Pengwei)
Give back to civilians for epidemic prevention efforts to facilitate economic activities
Citizens and businesses actively cooperate with the government's anti-epidemic arrangements. In addition, Hong Kong's new crown vaccination rate has finally reached 70% of the vaccinated population and the third dose plan has responded well. The government can also give back to the people appropriately.
There is no immediate measure to be more effective than limiting the number of people per restaurant to six, relaxing the upper limit of occupancy, etc., so that the public and business community can immediately feel the benefits.
Some people still resist "traveling with peace of mind" because of usage barriers.
Earlier, a visually impaired person accepted a newspaper interview and suggested a better way to use it. For example, the government produced a simplified version of the application to "scan the code as soon as it was opened," and the staff of the establishment could cut out the missing corners on the second scan code paper. Facilitate them to align the position.
In addition, the government can also provide portable recording devices for the homeless.
The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer once said that it would study improvement plans, but so far has not explained the progress.
The office should speed up and reduce the digital gap among disadvantaged groups.
The Hong Kong government has forced all government venues to use "Travel with peace of mind". The Mong Kok cooked food market adjacent to Langham Place was the first to bear the brunt. Some restaurant owners lamented the sharp drop in diners.
(Photo by Zhang Haowei)
Hong Kong government should strive for flexibility
The civilians cooperate with various epidemic prevention measures, one of which is to clear customs.
Newspaper quoted news that Hong Kong and the Mainland may set 1,000 quotas and quarantine-free customs clearance for specific groups around the 10th of next month. Compared with the number of people and groups, the circuit breaker mechanism is the key.
The difficulty of discussions between the Hong Kong government and the Mainland cannot be underestimated. After all, the Mainland cannot allow Hong Kong to become a gap in epidemic prevention.
From the perspective of the Mainland, the stricter the standards, the lower the risk.
According to the customs clearance guidelines between Macau and the Mainland, as long as there is a case of community infection of unknown origin, it will be suspended and will not resume until 14 days later.
However, Hong Kong has a larger population than Macau. In the coming winter and spring, the number of people returning to Hong Kong from other places increases. Even if the Hong Kong government continues to implement strict hotel quarantine measures, it will be difficult to ensure that community cases will be leaked.
If the circuit breaker mechanism is activated frequently, customs clearance will exist in name only.
According to the latest epidemic control measures in the Mainland, if there are no more than ten local confirmed cases in a low-risk area within 14 days, it will be regarded as a medium-risk area, and a community with more than ten cases is a high-risk area. Residents need to be isolated at home or centralized.
Based on this classification, the Hong Kong government can recommend a stricter standard than the risky areas in the Mainland to determine the circuit breaker mechanism. In addition to the number of infected people reaching ten, it also includes the occurrence of two or more groups of outbreaks with no limit on the number of people who are infected by imported cases from outside the country. The cases are also included in local cases.
In this way, in the event of a local case in Hong Kong, it can also prevent the governments of the two places from frequently triggering the circuit breaker mechanism. At the same time, it reduces the risk of virus export to the Mainland and increases the confidence of the Mainland to approve it.
Hong Kong's recovery in recent months has largely relied on the internal economy, but the real driving force is also in customs clearance with the mainland.
Furthermore, when the customs clearance of Hong Kong on the mainland goes smoothly, the customs clearance between Hong Kong and Macau is not far away.
To solve the enforcement loopholes of compulsory ``travel with peace of mind'', restaurant business is picking up and expanding regulation is inevitable. Implications for Hong Kong from customs clearance between Macau and the Mainland