Hong Kong cannot adopt "living with Covid-19” strategy: Carrie Lam

Hong Kong cannot adopt the “living with Covid-19” strategy, or it will be even harder for the city to reopen its borders, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor told lawmakers. 

Countries like Singapore and United Kingdom have adopted such a strategy, moving their emphasis to increasing vaccination rates instead of having no Covid-19 cases. On the other hand, the mainland still maintains the goal of having zero local cases. 

In a question and answer section at the Legislative Council, Lam said situations abroad are still worrying. 

As for how Hong Kong can fit into the “living with Covid” trend going on overseas, Lam said she is confident that Hong Kong can stop imported cases from entering local communities. She added that she will discuss reopening borders with the central government, but “living with the virus” is definitely not on the agenda. "Hong Kong is still aiming at zero local infection," Lam said.

Starry Lee Wai-king, the chairperson of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, asked what exactly Hong Kong has yet to fulfill that makes Beijing reluctant to reopen borders. 

Lam said that she has been reflecting Hong Kong people's demands on reopening, and stressed that the Covid outbreak in Hong Kong is now well under control, with no local infections for more than 21 days. 

The government has been very strict on preventing imported cases, so strict that it has been criticized by some chambers of commerce and foreign consulates. "Strict enforcement of imported cases is necessary as outbreak is still prevalent in many foreign countries," Lam said.

Lam added that vaccination is still an effective way to prevent the virus. The slowdown in vaccinations is worrying, she said, and called upon members of the public to get vaccinated as soon as possible.