Hong Kong starts mass virus testing as China distrust swirls

Su Xinqi, Agence France-Presse Posted at Sep 01 2020 07:12 AM HONG KONG, China - Hong Kong will start conducting mass coronavirus tests on Tuesday, a health scheme that has been swept up in the political debate dividing the city, where many remain deeply distrustful of both local leaders and China. The voluntary tests are part of an attempt to stamp out a third wave of infections that began in late June and saw the densely populated city reimpose economically painful social distancing measures. The programme has been hampered by a limited response due to the involvement of mainland Chinese testing firms and doctors -- and swirling public mistrust of local authorities as Beijing cracks down on the city's democracy movement. Since registration began on Saturday, 510,000 people have signed up to take the free tests -- around seven percent of the city's 7.5 million population. More than half of all 141 community test centres across the city are fully booked for their first day on Tuesday. But health experts advising the government have said as many as five million people might need to be tested for the scheme to comprehensively uncover hidden transmissions and end the current wave. Hong Kong has recorded just over 4,800 infections since the virus first hit the city in late January but about 75 percent of those cases were detected since the start of July. Tests will run for between a week and two weeks depending on public demand with numbers limited each day to reduce the risk of infection. Authorities have billed the scheme as a benevolent public health initiative made possible with Chinese help. - 'Anti China radicals' - But the involvement of mainland China has sent the rumour mills into overdrive and compounded fears of Beijing's surveillance state, which uses biometric data to monitor its citizens. Some prominent Hong Kong health experts have also questioned the efficacy of a mass testing programme, arguing that more targeted testing of at-risk and vulnerable communities would be a better use of resources. A group of pro-democracy politicians and lawmakers, including prominent activist Joshua Wong, called on the public to boycott the test on Sunday. They voiced fears of mass DNA harvesting and concerns Hong Kong might introduce a mandatory health code system like those used on the mainland. Hong Kong government's has repeatedly rejected those concerns, denying DNA would be taken and that no tests would go to mainland labs. City leader Carrie Lam, a pro-Beijing appointee, slammed those opposed to the testing scheme as "active anti-Beijing, anti-government members" who "will not spare any chance to create troubles and stir up confrontations even when it comes to a public health issue". Beijing's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office called testing opponents "anti-China radicals" with a "vile disregard" for public health. Last week Lam also dismissed doctors who voiced concerns about the efficacy of city-wide testing as being politically motivated, angering some in the medical community. At the height of the third wave in late July, Hong Kong was recording about 150 new coronavirus cases a day. Citing the rising infections, Lam cancelled local legislature elections for a year, sparking uproar from the city's pro-democracy camp, which had hoped to capitalise on seething public anger after last year's huge protests. Cases have since fallen back to single digits, with just nine new infections on Monday, and government opponents have questioned why elections needed to be cancelled if the government could also conduct city-wide tests. Authorities have said mass testing is a needed emergency health measure and that it will be conducted over multiple days, unlike an election. su/jta/mtp © Agence France-Presse

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more