Prognosis
Hong Kong Virus Fight Went From Confidence to China Reliance
- Government’s slogans chart city’s rocky virus record
- Tag lines are ‘empty words’ that tell us little, says expert
This article is for subscribers only.
When Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced that the Chinese government was bringing its mass-testing strategy to the city, a slogan behind her foreshadowed the move. “Combating the Epidemic with Staunch National Support,” it read.
Throughout the pandemic, the government has prominently displayed slogans at Lam’s news briefings to signal her government’s evolving Covid approach. But the sometimes awkward tag lines -- such as vowing to fight “the aggravating virus” -- have prompted ridicule. They’ve also provided a record of Hong Kong’s rocky path from early outbreak site to global safe haven to a place with one of the highest Covid death rates in the developed world.