Coronavirus: Hong Kong should carry out review on handling of Covid crisis – but not to point fingers, top government adviser says
- Exco convenor Regina Ip suggests lawmakers, health experts to be appointed for eventual move, but judges should be left out as they are not policy experts
- She notes lack of support for those infected at peak of fifth wave
Hong Kong should conduct a review of its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic without targeting any officials, a top government adviser has said, adding it should only be rolled out after the World Health Organization has declared the coronavirus crisis is over.
Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, convenor of the Executive Council, a key decision-making body, on Friday echoed earlier remarks by medical experts.
She said now was not the time to look into pandemic work, with the Covid situation ongoing. Ip suggested lawmakers and health experts could be appointed to carry out the review later, but added that an independent panel of judges was not required as they were not policy experts.
“The pandemic is not over, and we don’t know if there will be new variants … We should wait until the WHO declares it to be over,” she told a radio programme.
Ip noted a lack of support for infected patients at the peak of Hong Kong’s coronavirus crisis last year, saying the review should look into how to better mobilise social resources as well as maintain normal medical services when handling large numbers of infected residents.
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She also suggested looking into ways to make good use of technology and mobilise civil servants in the handling of major crises, as she noted work-from-home arrangements in the public sector during the pandemic had affected services.
But Ip stressed the review should not target any officials who had worked hard over the past three years.
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“Everyone was handling it and learning along the way, as well as optimising measures. We should not hold anyone accountable for everything, but should instead look for shortcomings and optimise procedures,” she said.
Ip’s remarks came after leading microbiologist Professor Yuen Kwok-yung urged the government to conduct a review to prepare for the next crisis.
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Yuen, a government pandemic adviser, pointed to deficiencies in areas such as virus tracking, isolation and testing in the early stages of the pandemic. He said the government should also review the large-scale outbreaks at care homes for the elderly.
Fellow health experts Professor David Hui Shu-cheong of Chinese University and respiratory medicine specialist Dr Leung Chi-chiu also said they had no objection to an independent review, but argued it could be launched at a later date.
Grace Li Fai, an executive council member of the Elderly Services Association of Hong Kong, also urged the government to conduct a review, but left it to experts to decide when it should be carried out.
She called on the authorities to look into areas including the isolation and transfer of infected residents in care homes, the promotion of vaccination in the early stages, as well as the city’s handling of the pandemic when the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus emerged.
“It is a once-in-a-century major global public health event. Of course a review is needed,” she said.
The WHO will hold a meeting on Friday to discuss whether Covid-19 should still be considered a global emergency.
The city was hit hard by its fifth Covid-19 wave which peaked in March last year when tens of thousands of infections were recorded daily, with hundreds of related deaths. Hospitals were overwhelmed, while care homes reported wide outbreaks.
Caseloads have been on the decline over the past month, with 2,335 new infections logged on Friday, 45 of which were imported. Twenty-two more deaths were recorded. The overall tally stands at 2,869,343 cases and 13,280 related fatalities.
