Southern China faces the limits of its government's "Zero Covid" policy and is finding it hard to maintain with the development of new variants. A wave of Covids caused by other strains of the Omicron variant is once again putting entire towns under lock and key.
This time it's Shenzhen and Macao who thus find themselves in the eye of the Covid storm.
Shenzhen has entered semi-confinementjust over a month after a major wave of cases. Every day since last week, the French mainland has been reporting cases (an average of three to four people) testing positive for Covid. The French government...
Southern China faces the limits of its government's "Zero Covid" policy and is finding it hard to maintain with the development of new variants. A wave of Covids caused by other strains of the Omicron variant is once again putting entire towns under lock and key.
This time it's Shenzhen and Macao who thus find themselves in the eye of the Covid storm.
Shenzhen has entered semi-confinementjust over a month after a major wave of cases. Every day since last week, the city has been reporting cases (an average of three to four people) testing positive for Covid. The local government has therefore declared its "War on Covid.
Some districts have been completely isolated, and residents can only access public places and transport with a negative test that is less than 48 hours old. However, the city's councillors assure us that business activity in the city has not been affected for the time being.
In Macau, the miracle is fading
The Covid situation seems more complicated in Macau. The autonomous territory had - by some miracle - largely escaped the various previous waves of the Covid. At the beginning of January 2022, the former Portuguese colony had officially recorded 79 positive cases and 0 deaths. In other words, the least affected territory in the world. After recording 83 cases at the end of May, Macao has been hit by a new wave of terrorism since June. with an acceleration since the 20th of the month.
On Monday 20 June, the city detected 36 cases, and the figure has been rising ever since. The number of cases had risen to 150 by 26 June.. After closing schools and businesses deemed non-essential, Friday also saw a ban on the opening of restaurants and leisure venues. The border city of Zhuhai closed its borders in response.
On the other hand, casinos remain operational. To this medical quirk, the Chief Executive of Macau, Ho Iat Sengexplained that " For the time being, there is no reason to apply such an "extreme" measure. Because it would have an immediate negative impact on the livelihoods of local workers." . And also on the revenue that the government derives from it...
Ho Iat Seng spoke at a press conference about the benefits of "zero covid" in the enclave. " If we don't maintain this 'zero cases' policy, I don't know if we'll be able to keep our borders open, and that will certainly have a big impact on Macao." said the Chief Executive.
" If we don't keep the borders open, we won't have tourists and we won't be able to revitalise the economy. So we need to find a balance between the economy and society, to see what is the best option for Macau. Because if we abandon the Chinese market, which market will support our economy? Without the Chinese market, I don't know how we can survive." he added. Ho Iat Seng.
Is Hong Kong moving away from the '0 Covid' orthodoxy?
A similar dilemma has been troubling Hong Kong for several months.. The citypractically at complete isolation for the last two years, has eased some of its restrictions since May. Mandatory quarantine at one time lasted 21 days in prison-like conditions. This quarantine is now reduced to 7 days.
The new Chief Executive, John Leewho will take office on 1 July 2022 under the benevolent eye of Xi Jinping, the Chinese president who will be travelling to Hong Kong, has now declared that he is in favour of further relief.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post, John Lee put forward the following argument possible interim measures before full reopening. In particular with a quarantine reduced from seven to five days.
However, legislators and business leaders in Hong Kong are suggesting that the quarantine period in hotels be reduced to three days. Expatriates and Hong Kongers returning to Hong Kong could also isolate themselves at home as part of a more flexible strategy.. The new Chief Executive is also thinking of be able to offer a special regime - a travel bubble - with southern China.
International status shaken
Hong Kong's openness to the rest of the world and to mainland China is essential. The territory's prosperity is fuelled by international trade and finance. Many business leaders are complaining about an exodus of expatriate workers and young talent. In particular for Singaporewhich has been almost entirely reopened to the international market since April.
Survey confirms Hong Kong's rapid decline as an international business metropolis. On 23 June last, the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Hong Kong has published the results of a survey of its members. More than two thirds of the 109 people questioned consider the resumption of international travel without quarantine to be an absolute priority. A third of them said they were considering partial or total relocation in the next 12 months to other destinations such as Singapore. 42 % of those surveyed also revealed that employees had left their companies in the last two years because of the strict measures taken by the city to combat the coronavirus. Start the countdown!
