Hong Kong’s response to COVID-19: a glance to the control measures and their enforcement

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to examine Hong Kong’s responses to COVID-19, arguing that Hong Kong’s relatively low infection rate is due to self-discipline of citizens together with the enforcement measures introduced by the government. Design/methodology/approach This study reviewed the government policy announcements and the prevailing scholarly analyses on Hong Kong society during COVID-19. Findings It starts by examining the partial lockdown and control measures since mid-January, and the roles of different government units in enforcement were examined and assessed. Suppression of viral outbreak in Hong Kong should primarily be attributed to the appropriate lockdown and quarantine actions of the government. Originality/value However, outperformance of the frontline professionals and the highly aware, self-disciplined and mutually aided citizens in the community are also the key to the “interim success” by June 2020 in the highly accessible and densely populated city.

Health-Promoting Behaviors, Risk Perceptions, and Attention to COVID-19-Related Information: Comparing People's Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic Across Times of Chinese New Year and Summer 2020 in Hong Kong

“…Participants reported heavy involvement in infection-prevention behaviors during CNY (mean = 4.16) and became even more involved during summer 2020. This finding might be related to increases in COVID cases between CNY 2020 and summer 2020 ( 6 ), along with stringent public health policy (e.g., restrictions on gatherings) concerning prevention behaviors ( 18 , 19 ). Furthermore, this result is aligned with findings from the end of the SARS pandemic ( 52 ): More than 70% of the participants reported that they would wear a mask in public places and avoid going to crowded places if new SARS cases ever were to surface in HK again.…”

“…However, participants didn't take more action to remain healthy during summer 2020 as anticipated, possibly because HK residents might have encountered barriers to increasing healthy behaviors (e.g., exercising and dieting) during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, fitness centers were closed from mid-March 2020 to early September 2020 ( 19 ), and the living spaces in residential buildings are limited, leading to difficulties in exercising at home ( 53 ). As a result, the participants did not significantly adopt more actions to stay healthy.…”

“…Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID- 19) is a severe respiratory disease, and its virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; henceforth COVID- 19), can be transmitted easily among people (1). The first COVID-19 outbreak was reported in Wuhan in 2019, and the disease eventually spread globally, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic in March 2020 (2,3).…”

“…Researchers have not yet fully determined whether the public's adherence to recommended behaviors changes over time. Furthermore, HK's government implemented stricter policies as the COVID-19 outbreak became a global pandemic, such as restrictions on gatherings ( 18 , 19 ). Hong Kong residents might accept more health-promoting behaviors if the pandemic worsens, but the literature has not addressed any such changes yet.…”

Strong government responses? Reflections on the management of COVID-19 in Hong Kong and Taiwan

“…Making use of legal regimes, Hong Kong still imposes effective supervision and intervention in the performance of these quasi-public/private service providers by means of budget control and auditing requirements. COVID-19 has underlined a great number of involvements from "non-public personnel, but they are actually the contractors of the government" (Hsieh et al, 2021;Ho and Chan, 2021). This anti-pandemic model marks a sharp departure from the general emphasis of centrally administered, mass mobilisation of practices in most non-democratic Asian regimes.…”