Hong Kong, Macau enact 'zero COVID' controls

Hong Kong and Macau have recently introduced new pandemic measures to rein in a fresh COVID wave by extending China's controversial "zero COVID" policy in the cities.

Macau imposed a citywide lockdown on July 11 and put over 20,000 residents under mandatory quarantine. Casinos and other businesses in the city have suspended their operations, while residents are not allowed to leave their homes apart from carrying out essential activities like grocery shopping.

On July 16, authorities in Macau announced the lockdown extension until July 22.

While more than 90% of the city's population has been fully vaccinated, authorities still decided to impose a strict lockdown to contain COVID's highly transmissible omicron variant.

Macau, a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, has built makeshift hospitals. More than 500 medical personnel from China have arrived in the city to assist health officials to contain the number of infections.

Electronic wristbands and health codes

In Hong Kong, authorities have introduced electronic wristbands and health codes to contain the omicron spread. On Monday, Hong Kong reported 3,436 new COVID cases, with health officials describing the increasing number of hospitalized patients as "worrying."

The wristbands are mandatory for people who are quarantined at home after testing positive for COVID-19. Hong Kong's health secretary, Chung-Mau Lo, said the measure will ensure that home isolation is executed more precisely.

 

According to authorities, people in home isolation must activate the wristband at the start of their quarantine. During the isolation period, the app will analyze communication signals in their neighborhood. Any change in the signals that prompt officials to believe someone may have left their isolation place may result in a warning or an arrest.

In addition to the wristband, authorities are also contemplating introducing a health code system similar to the one that is implemented in China. The aim is to restrict the movement of people who have been infected by COVID and those arriving from overseas. According to the city's health secretary, the system would require real-name registration, and anyone who tests positive would receive a red code as a way to identify them.

How effective are these measures?

While authorities insist the new measures will ensure quarantine compliance and curb the spread of the pandemic, some experts in Hong Kong believe these measures will have minimal effect on reducing transmission.

"There is a potential that [the wristband] will slightly reduce transmissions, but I don't think it will have a huge impact," Ben Cowling, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Hong Kong's School of Public Health, told DW.

The timing of when the wristband must be worn is unclear, leading Cowling to suggest that if infected individuals only begin to wear them three days after contracting COVID, the virus may already have been transmitted to other people.

"What we understand of COVID is that the majority of transmission occurs from infected people around the time their symptoms begin to show and around the time they first test positive," he said. "If the wristband comes more quickly, it could have a small impact, but to what extent does that affect transmission, I don't know.

"For the health code, we will have to see how it's implemented, because I think we are still waiting for some details," he added.

Concern over data privacy and surveillance

Other analysts have expressed concern about the health code's privacy issue. "If they are implementing a health code, they will have to collect more personal data than what they are collecting right now with the LeaveHomeSafe app," said Chung-Ching Kwong, the Hong Kong campaign coordinator for the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.

"There are already many controversies around security and encryption when it comes to the LeaveHomeSafe app, so it's unconvincing that they will be able to step up their security game when they are increasing the amount of personal data that they plan to collect," she told DW.

 

Apart from data privacy concerns, Kwong said there is a possibility that the health code could become a tool for authorities to conduct surveillance or censorship, citing examples from China's Henan province where hundreds of bank depositors were unable to join a planned protest after their health codes turned red.

"Would this also happen in Hong Kong? There is no way Hong Kongers can find that out and make sure this won't happen here," she added.

Will Hong Kong reopen to the world?

Although Hong Kong authorities have mentioned the possibility of gradually relaxing strict border controls, they have not given a definite time frame.

Earlier this month, Hong Kong's Health Secretary Chung-Mau Lo said in an interview with the South China Morning Post that the city could potentially allow quarantine-free arrivals by November, but only under certain conditions.

Cowling said the new strict measures are not consistent with these statements, and Kwong is of the view that the Hong Kong government is "doing exactly what Beijing wants them to do."

"The current [COVID] policy in Hong Kong is more of a political consideration to demonstrate how loyal they are to Beijing when it comes to dealing with the pandemic," she said. "In the past, Hong Kong officials still had their own considerations and agenda, but right now they are doing what Beijing wants them to do."

Edited by: Shamil Shams