In Hong Kong, China’s ‘covid zero’ strategy is falling apart

In Hong Kong this sort of authoritarianism is hitting its limits: “The highly transmissible variant has seeped through the cracks and taken hold. The virus has spread to dozens of senior care homes, where the elderly are especially vulnerable; among those over 70 years old, only 56 percent have had one vaccine dose. The territory’s case counts are skyrocketing, and its hospitals overwhelmed. The Post’s Shibani Mahtani and Theodora Yu found elderly patients lining up outside the Caritas Medical Center, and one patient who tested positive was isolated in a women’s bathroom.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has instructed Hong Kong’s government to prioritize controlling the virus “before anything else.” Advisers being sent from Beijing appear to be telling Chief Executive Carrie Lam to carry out citywide testing. They might seek more severe lockdowns, but that will run into resistance. Hong Kong’s people are more suspicious and distrustful of China since their liberties were so brazenly taken away. There aren’t many good options to slow the spread at this point, and if the virus is not extinguished in Hong Kong, it could spark outbreaks on the mainland.”