The end is not yet in sight for Hong Kong's fourth Wuhan coronavirus wave as well as its political woes

Various notices (each in five different languages) about 

anti-Wuhan coronavirus measures currently in effect

 

An anti-Wuhan coronavirus notice pitched towards hikers

and other Hong Kong country park users

 

The end is not yet in sight for Hong Kong's fourth Wuhan coronavirus wave after all.  Not only has it now gone on for longer than the third wave, the number of daily new infections has rebounded from 25 on January 6th up to  50 on Saturday, then 55 yesterday and now 107 today.  

 

Even while these numbers remain indeed low by global standards, it is alarming to many Hong Kongers, some of whom are questioning whether not rushing to get the population vaccinated really is the ideal approach to take.  At the same time, there are real worries about the vaccines that the Hong Kong government has procured; this especially after one of them -- produced by China's Sinovac -- was found to have just a 50.38 percent efficacy in late stage trials in Brazil, making it so that, as Nathan Ruser put it, "on an individual level it's essentially a coin toss, with serious implications for those vaccinated."

 

Way before this revelation, Hong Kongers were already sceptical of any Wuhan coronavirus vaccination program that the government would be administering; with just 37.2 percent of 1,200 local residents surveyed between July 27th and August 27th last year stating that they would be willing to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.  This is a hardly ideal state of affairs, given that a medical expert has estimated that Hong Kong cannot achieve "herd immunity" against the coronavirus unless 80 percent of the population is vaccinated.   

 

Probably because they had an inkling of this high level of public skepticism, Hong Kong legislators had suggested last month that the government provide a cash incentive of up to HK$5,000 (US$645) per resident to aid the success of the vaccination scheme.  Of course a better way to get people to trust in the vaccination program is for them to trust the government that will be administering it.  But, alas, trust in the government is something that few Hong Kongers have -- for many, solid reasons.  

 

Just today, we saw the government announce that it will be allocating billions of dollars to help one of its two major amusement parks whose primary target audience is not local stay afloat; this at a time when many locals are hurting financially -- in no small part as a result of a number of social distancing measures requiring the (temporary) closure of a number of businesses -- and Hong Kong's unemployment rate projected to hit a 16 year high when the latest job stats are revealed tomorrow.  Put another way: there has long been a sense that the Hong Kong government cares far more about pandering to big business (particularly developers) as well as Beijing far more than regular Hong Kongers.    

 

And over on the legal front: justice in Hong Kong suffered another setback today when a judge sentenced a man to a four-year prison term as well as fined him HK$5,000 after finding him guilty of rioting and possessing an unlicensed radio communication device at an anti-extradition bill protest in Causeway Bay on August 31st, 2019.  In making his judgement, the judge rejected the defendant's statement that he was a first aider, deciding that the six rolls of bandages that the defendant had in his backpack was insufficient proof of this.  He also saw it as a sign of the defendant's guilt that he ran away from the police... but wouldn't most people be inclined to do the same when faced with members of a police force who are liable to do this on -- as it so happens -- August 31st, 2019?  

 

Even when security law arrestees end up being released unconditionally (as actually happened today with teenage activist Yanni Ho), the signs remain that there's something rotten in the state of Hong Kong.  Remember the mass arrests of two Wednesdays ago and the subsequent release on bail of all but three of the 55 arrestees (two of whom were behind bars at the time of their announced arrest)?  Reportedly, that came about because, after the round-up was completed and the arrestees were being processed, the Hong Kong’s law enforcement authorities realised they had suspects in search of a crime thanks to the common law system being at odds with the national security law!  

 

In an ideal world, justice and common sense should and will prevail.  In 2021 Hong Kong, we await this happening, hopefully not in vain.