The Myth of the Para-Lockdown to Fight COVID-19 in Hong Kong

Beginning with the first coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) case on January 23, 2020 (also the date that Wuhan, China, went into whole city lockdown), Hong Kong has suffered 203 deaths from 11398 confirmed cases as of March 23, 2021, among a population of 7.5 million crowded within 1106.81 km.1 With the high public awareness learned from the catastrophic experience of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003, citizens wear face masks out of self-awareness and maintain good personal hygiene. There has not been a complete lockdown or official curfew in this very densely populated city. Life has gone on mostly as usual, even with restrictions on business, schools, medical institutes, and social gatherings to a certain extent, albeit the four waves of this pandemic have affected the economy significantly. However, a partial district lockdown for mandatory coronavirus testing began on January 23, 2021. To identify hidden cases and their close contacts and ultimately achieve zero COVID-19 cases,2 as desired by the Chief Executive (the head of Hong Kong government), due to “far from satisfactory”3 outputs for combating the pandemic compared with neighbors such as Macau and Taiwan. This two-day “full-blown government-enforced quarantine”4 was undertaken in three districts, including 7000 people within 150 buildings, and involving more than 3000 workers from different departments. In the end, 13 cases were found. Such overnight ambush exercises (often taking place in a single night) were arranged in various locations until February 11 before the Lunar New Year holiday. Nevertheless, most compulsory testing found no infections, even though fines have been imposed on uncooperative residents, and court warrants and flat break-ins have been threatened. This operation has resumed on and off from February 23; and yet a very limited number of infections have been found.