Where are we really at with total lockdown?

A total lockdown will be the death of Hong Kong.

First, one should ask what a total lockdown seeks to achieve.

If it is to get everyone tested and isolate those who are infected, the next question is whether we have enough facilities to treat those cases unearthed or to isolate them. If we don't, a total lockdown is not sensible.

We are short of doctors, nurses, carers and quarantine facilities.

By bringing in doctors from the mainland, we may, on top of the communication problems we may have with them, cause our own doctors to leave.

Carers are welcome. Indeed we have been using mainland ones in our care homes for quite some time now.

It is also heartwarming to hear a team from the mainland is making quick progress erecting quarantine facilities for us.

What is more urgently needed now are clearer guidelines from our center for disease control.

At the same time the administration should step up its vaccination promotional efforts by making the jabs mandatory unless people have an exemption certificate.

The upcoming consumption vouchers should be denied to anti-vaxxers. It's time to get tough as death rates keep climbing and if we want our borders to open.

Attention should also be paid to enforcement of the vaccine pass system.

Self-testing kits should be given out by bosses to employees every morning before they start work and they should be shown how to use them properly.

Before the recent closure of gyms, I understand the biggest gym had to provide separate premises for those are vaccinated and for those who aren't.

I do not the see the logic of the administration closing down open areas located next to the restaurants selling takeaways.

A good example is podium four in IFC Mall. There are guards preventing people from using such an open area but none to enforce the vaccine pass system.

I also fail to see the logic or scientific basis for making the masks mandatory for joggers or hikers in a country park.

All such measures should be backed by scientific evidence and data if it is to enjoy the support and confidence of the people.

It is also disheartening to know that news of deaths, be it suicides or as a result of a Covid infection, do not get reported promptly or in the main newspapers. We want more transparency.

The legislature should also look into why funeral parlors are allowed to charge more if it is a Covid-related death, in which case I do not understand why the law should not be changed to do away with post-mortems unless there is a complaint of professional negligence.

These are unusual times, and the law has to be amended to cope until the situation returns to normal.

Some readers ask why the financial secretary is discriminating against landlords as they are already suffering delays in going through the court process to evict delinquent tenants. They also have mortgages to pay so this irrational decision of giving a six-month moratarium should be scrapped.

I applaud Doreen Kong for giving away part of her salary to help the less privileged. Perhaps more legislators should follow her example and lead the way for a more caring society for Hong Kong.

We have been suffering from poor leadership for too long, including the recent flip-flop on whether there will be a lockdown or not so people can prepare for it.

We are part of China but our different system and set of laws should be jealously guarded if we are to survive as an international city.

Susan Liang is a lawyer who likes to speak her mind on issues that concern the man on the street