Hong Kong state officials are ratcheting their stance on COVID with severe policy measures.
On Monday, the city’s health secretary, Lo Chung-Mau, issued several new limitations to prevent the virus’ spread. These limitations include requiring positive COVID patients confined at home to “wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.”
Previously used to track new arrivals to the city, the updated program ensures persons who have come back positive for the viral illness do not leave their residences without government permission.
HK's new health minister Lo Chung-mau announced that from Friday all #Covid patients under home quarantine will have to wear an electronic bracelet in order to prevent them from leaving home. pic.twitter.com/XVHO31CQ1Q
— Xinqi Su 蘇昕琪 (@XinqiSu) July 11, 2022
Lo also stated the city would update its contact-tracing app to demand name registration. Reuters said patients were previously “not obliged to register with private information.”
Hong Kong will deploy a stoplight color-code system to “restrict transit of infected individuals and close contacts.”
Citizens who test positive will get a red tag and be banned from “high-risk” institutions, including hospitals and elderly homes. All newcomers will be marked as yellow. Lo didn’t say what the codes meant for venue access.
Lo stated they would employ technology to implement a precision plan in response to privacy issues and to reduce costs and maximize efficacy in fighting the epidemic.
COVID is a CCP Tool
Officials like Lo and freshly sworn-in Chief Executive John Lee will depict the city’s severe actions as an attempt to save lives. Still, the arbitrary regulations actually serve to stifle Hong Kong’s rights.
Since the Chinese government enacted a so-called national security ordinance in June 2020 in response to citywide demonstrations in 2019, Hong Kong law enforcement agencies, with CCP backing, have cracked down on fundamental liberties throughout the administrative zone.
CCP-backed law enforcement agencies imprisoned pro-democracy reporters. They forced news organizations to close after the law’s implementation, destroying the city’s free press. Only “patriots” devoted to the Chinese government are allowed to run for office.
CCP-aligned authorities in mainland China have never prioritized life over power.
By using COVID as a justification for more significant restrictions, the CCP and its cronies in Hong Kong hope to absorb the city into China’s top-to-bottom system, while maintaining Hong Kong’s image as a completely free market independent of Beijing.
Democracy in Hong Kong
Xi Jinping referred to similar goals in his July 1 speech, celebrating the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s turnover to China in 1997.
He underlined the necessity for “patriots” to preserve their sovereignty over the city.
Today marks 100 years since the founding of the Chinese Communist Party.
To commemorate the occasion, Xi Jinping gave a speech filled with lies.
July 1, 2021
Beijing, China pic.twitter.com/zTlQRHkane— Things China Doesn't Want You To Know (@TruthAbtChina) July 1, 2021
Xi said preserving control in the hands of loyalists is a global rule.
No country or region would ever provide political power to groups or persons that don’t love or do betray their own country.
He said keeping the power to run Hong Kong in the hands of loyalists is crucial for long-term management and security; this concept should never be compromised.
Just as CCP authorities in China abused the country’s health code system to repress corruption protests, trust Hong Kong officials to do the same.
The CCP and its supporters in Hong Kong use lockdowns that haven’t worked in the past to keep control over the civilians there. This is the final nail in the coffin for the once-free metropolis.
