Another "ambush-style" lockdown -- this time over in North Point

Another day, another "ambush-style" lockdown

 

Ironically, this government "ambush" is located where 

a different ambush was attempted back in 2019

This is getting old quick.  The day after Hong Kong's first ever "ambush-style" lockdown ended, with a grand total of one positive case found among the approximately 330 people tested for the Wuhan coronavirus (fewer than the 380 personnel mustered for the operation), the Hong Kong government has decided to effect another "ambush-style" lockdown -- this time over in the North Point area of Hong Kong Island.

Never mind that as many as half of the residents in the area of the first "ambush-style" lockdown appeared to have been tested; with no one answering 93 the door of the 306 residences that the lock-down personnel knocked on.  Carrie Lam decreed that the operation was a success.  (Bear in mind that this is also the same woman who has opined that China's national security law for Hong Kong is "on par with, if not superior to, similar national security laws in other jurisdictions, including the US" and looks to be living in la-la land, if not much worse.)  

For the record: this new lockdown comes on a day which saw Hong Kong reporting 39 new coronavirus cases, a significant drop from yesterday's 60, the previous day's 64 and the beginning of the week's 73.  Sadly, today also saw two deaths from the coronavirus; bringing Hong Kong's total number of coronavirus fatalities up to 176.    

Compared to a lot of other places in the world (including other major cities like London, New York, Tokyo and Singapore), Hong Kong's coronavirus numbers look on the miraculously low side.  But, in all honesty, whatever credit that's due for this should majorly go to the people of Hong Kong rather than its government.    

As Neville Sarony stated just yesterday: "Unquestionably, the relative success that Hong Kong has achieved in terms of mortality and morbidity rates is attributable to the practical common sense of the vast majority of Hong Kong people, despite the repeated failures of government"; and "The people of Hong Kong are hoist with a government that is demonstrably dysfunctional yet there is nothing they can do about it. Nowhere is this more blatantly evident than in the balefully stupid history of handling the Covid-19 crisis."  

 

As for why he believes this, read all the evidence he provides in his piece.  Doing so will clearly show up the "aura of stupidity and malice" -- to borrow the phrase from the blogger behind The Big Lychee -- that continues to hang over the very Hong Kong government that Hong Kongers canot vote out of office nor, given the reality of the naked power of its Beijing overlords, toss out. Sadly, tragically even, to quote Sarony once more: "In Hong Kong’s twilight world in which the government is not accountable to the governed, Franz Kafka rules."

 

People's lack of trust in, and respect for, this un-elected government has undoubtedly played a part in less than 50% of Hong Kongers surveyed by the University of Hong Kong's medical school saying that they intend to get vaccinated against the Wuhan coronavirus; with coronavirus vaccine skepticism being highest among younger people along with those with higher education and income levels.  When presenting the survey results, Professor Gabriel Leung made some pertinent notes about needing to address the trust deficit issue by letting science lead; with the implication being that politics shouldn't get in the way and, also, that those who the government has often considered to be the enemy (i.e., the Hong Kong people, particularly those who are not pro-government) actually deserve a lot of credit for their anti-pandemic efforts.     

 

Speaking of enemy: I see some irony in today's "ambush-style" lockdown taking place in the area where, back in August 2019, men armed with long sticks and other weapons sought to ambush black-clad extradition bill protestors and again one month later.  In another ironic twist though: one of the streets currently cordoned off also happens to have become home to a number of Yellow Economic Circle establishments.  (For the record: North Point was among the many parts of Hong Kong that "turned yellow" during the November 2019 District Council elections.)    

 

For those with a long memory: North Point also happens to be associated with the 1967 leftist riots that really were riots (as in lots of bomb attacks and 51 people killed).  With a reputation to this day as a Communist/pro-Beijing stronghold, it was where the police landed a helicopter atop the Kiu Kwan Building, whose first three floors house the Chinese Goods Centre (a Mainland Chinese emporium seen as ground zero of the 1967 riots)!  

 

Let's hope though that much less drama ensues in North Point tonight through to tomorrow, and beyond.  And wouldn't it be nice if no one is found to be infected there, and the fourth wave continues to recede and even draw to a close in the coming days?