People are walking past a temporary test site in Hong Kong’s Jordan district on January 20.
Photographer: Anthony Kwan / Getty Images
Photographer: Anthony Kwan / Getty Images
Hong Kong will lock up tens of thousands of residents for the first time in an attempt to crack down on the coronavirus, local media reported Friday with reference to unknown people.
The closure is expected to begin this weekend in Yau Tsim Mong, Kowloon’s core city district, the South China Morning Post and HK01. It covers a compulsory test area where common aging buildings and subdivided apartments populated by low-income families.
SCMP had earlier indicated that parts of Sham Shui Po would also be locked up, but later updated to say the district would not be affected.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell to 1.7% after the report on Friday.
Residents of a neighborhood are waiting in line on January 20 for a mandatory Covid-19 test at a temporary test site in the Jordan district, in Hong Kong.
Photographer: Anthony Kwan / Getty Images
Only residents who show the negative Covid-19 test results will be allowed to leave the lock-up area, according to the SCMP report, with the remark that exemptions are allowed for those who need to seek medical consultation or suffer bodily harm.
HK01 said that every building will be guarded by government personnel to ensure that people leaving the building have a negative test result. They will also send enforcement officers to each apartment to ensure residents have taken a test.
The reported measures pale in comparison to the barriers adopted in mainland China, where a harsh approach bans people from leaving cities, districts or even their apartment complexes. But it is the most serious step Hong Kong has taken to control the pathogen, and a blow to the government’s approach to keeping the economy largely afloat during the pandemic.
Targeted closure
Hong Kong to fence off Yau Tsim Mong, one of the city’s most densely populated neighborhoods in Kowloon District
Sources: GovHK, Food and Health Bureau
Despite nearly two months of social distance, the infection curve of the former British colony has re-typed, as colder weather and faster-spreading variants pose a greater threat.
The increase in cases, though much less dramatic compared to world cities such as London and New York, has prompted the government to impose restrictions, such as the closure of schools and some businesses. But until now, it has been reluctant to take stricter measures such as locks, out of concern they could ignites a crisis in a city already shaken by protests.
City near Beijing shut down, million tested as outbreak grows
Even a limited exclusion in Hong Kong would impose huge movement restrictions in the highly populated city with some of the smallest living spaces in the world – the average apartment is about 500 square meters. It is not uncommon for poorer residents in the affected Kowloon areas to live in spaces large enough for a bed with communal kitchen and toilet facilities.
The closing neighborhood is located in an older district of Kowloon with a lower income, although the city’s density is a stone ‘s throw from glittering skyscrapers such as the International Commerce Center, where the offices of Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse Group AG are located.
The exclusion will only be lifted if the government is satisfied that everyone in the area has been tested, according to the SCMP report.
Leung Chi-chiu, former chairman of the Hong Kong Medical Association’s advisory committee on communicable diseases, said the stricter measures were meaningless because cases were already being found outside the designated areas. The spread will continue through cross-transmission within families and over multiple incubation periods, Leung said.
The tougher measures come as Hong Kong launches its vaccination program, which could help calm anxious residents by launching early vaccination efforts on mainland China and rival Singapore’s financial center. The government is expected to grant emergency approval for the acquisition of Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE shortly after the expert panel recommended the green light last week.
Hong Kong has seen 167 deaths due to Covid-19 – still about half of the toll the city inflicted on the 2003 pandemic with severe acute respiratory syndrome, which killed nearly 300 people in the early 2000s.
The greater constraints also come as the neighboring city of Macau reported the first imported case since June.
– With the help of Felix Tam, Pablo Robles, Dominic Lau, Alfred Liu, Natalie Lung and Justin Chin
(Updates throughout)