Hong Kong on the brink... of a fifth Wuhan coronavirus wave

  

Coronavirus cluster chart

 

You'd think that Hong Kong had enough to worry about with all the political persecution taking place.  But in recent days, there also are fears that a fifth Wuhan coronavirus wave is upon us after Hong Kong recorded its first untraceable coronavirus case in three months this past Tuesday and a "covid cluster" formed at a restaurant in Kowloon Tong where at least five of its lunch diners became infected with the highly transmissible Omicron variant.  

 

The previously untraceable case has since been traced to a second dining cluster involving people who had breakfast at a Tin Hau cha chaan teng.  Before this, Carrie Lam announced the return of stricter "social distancing" measures that involve the closing of bars, cinema, museums and so much more for at least two weeks, and no dining in restaurants after 6pm too, as of this Friday (i.e., tomorrow).  Oh, and Hong Kong also will be banning flights from eight different countries as of this Saturday.

 

(For the record: Hong Kong recorded 33 new cases today, of which 28 were imported.  I realize that this will not sound like much to many people, especially those living in places like Europe and North America, but do bear in mind that we are more used to seeing case numbers that are in the single digits and that Hong Kong has not had a single local transmission for some three months!) 

 

While Carrie Lam refused to say that a fifth wave has begun, we also now of the existence of a new dance cluster which brings back memories of the dance clubs cluster of the fourth wave.  But the talk of the town today is of what might turn out to be yet another coronavirus cluster -- and, if it does, would be a real doozy on account of it involving a number of senior government officials and legislative councillors.  

 

More specifically: On Monday night, Witman Hung, principal liaison officer for Hong Kong at the Shenzhen Qianhai Authority, had a birthday party that had more than 100 guests, one of whom turned out to be infected with the Omicron variant of the Wuhan coronavirus.  Among the full-on party's identified VIP attendees are Secretary for Home Affairs Caspar Tsui, Commissioner of of Police Raymond Siu, newly elected Legislative Councillors Benson Luk and Rock Chen, and now ex-customs and excise commissioner Hermes Tang (of "hotpot trio" infamy).  

 

Despite none of the guests (and the birthday boy) not appearing to have been wearing masks while doing such as singing karaoke along with eating and drinking, only one of the government officials thus far has not escaped being sent to quarantine over at Penny's Bay.  That would be Caspar Tsui, with his boss, Carrie Lam, expressing her "disappointment", among other things, at a press conference earlier today.            

The contrite minister has since apologized to the Central Government over in Beijing, Carrie Lam,his fellow ministers, his bureau staff and the public for his “mistake” of attending birthday party, and says he will "reflect on himself" during quarantine.  In changing his Facebook profile picture to black as an apology though, Tsui may well have made another mistake -- because the color black and thus black Facebook profile pics have come to be associated with expressing opposition to the government in Hong Kong!   

 

Carrie Lam has additionally announced that there will be an investigation into that party (which, while technically, within the rules, does seem to be a major faux pas, among other things, in the eyes of many).  And it's possible that Caspar Tsui will soon be joined at Penny's Bay by another cabinet official, Immigration Director Au Ka-wang.

 

But even the sending of a second senior government official to "enjoy" the "hospitality" on offer at Penny's Bay -- and whatever apology he elects to issue -- is unlikely to stem public ire at the government at this point. As the blogger behind Big Lychee, Various Sectors put ever so well today, there's really lots that Hong Kongers have to be angry about with regards to Hong Kong's pandemic measures, never mind so much else.  And believe me when I say that Hong Kongers have long memories.  Or, actually, if you don't believe me, check out the Tweets here and here.    

 

For example, as I write this, five different "ambush lockdowns" are taking place in various parts of Hong Kong -- the most ever in a single night.  All told, there were 50 of them in 2021 and there already have been 15 in 2022 as of tonight.  But pretty much every time, all that has resulted in the causing of inconvenience to hundreds of people and zero new coronavirus cases detected!  It's almost like the administration is shorn of new ideas and just falls back on old repressive actions even though they have been shown over and over again to not yield dividends.