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Gear up to fight the virus together

Today is the sixth day of the Chinese New Year. May I wish you all a healthy and happy new year ahead!

Amid the threat of the fifth wave of outbreak, the festive atmosphere of the Chinese New Year holiday has been disrupted. The latest outbreak has been lasting for more than a month, with the number of confirmed cases surging from few cases to several hundred cases a day. People are bothered with many questions, such as when the pandemic will be contained? How the virus will impact their health? How should they get prepared for compulsory testing or “restriction-testing declaration” operation?

In face of the uncertainties and worries, it is imminent for us now to identify and quarantine infected persons quickly and effectively, with a view to cutting off the chain of infection in the community and contain the spread of the virus. Hong Kong is now under the threat of two virus variants, i.e. Omicron and Delta at the same time. The current epidemic situation is very severe as there are many chains of infection hidden in the community and the daily number of confirmed cases has been surging. To protect the public health, safeguard the effective operation of our healthcare system to ensure timely treatment for those in need, and support the living of breadwinners and the businesses of SMEs, we have to keep the virus at bay as soon as possible. Only by winning this battle against the virus, could we provide the most stable and solid support to the economy.

As such, we have to fight against the virus with the greatest determination and the fastest speed and mobilise every support and resources that needed. The whole society has to conduct virus testing to the largest extent in an orderly manner, with a view to identifying those infected and providing them with suitable treatment. By doing so, we could restore our social activities under a risk-managed, stable and safe environment. We could draw confidence from the experience of some Mainland cities which have been fighting against the virus effectively. With the concerted efforts of the Government, enterprises and the citizens striving for the same goal, we can surely win this battle against the virus! Only by giving our full effort in the battle and conducting testing in full scale, could we cut off the chain of infection as soon as possible and restore a safe social environment.

Under the leadership of the Chief Executive, the SAR Government is making its best effort and has strengthened various measures, including enhancing the testing capacity by re-setting up the Fire Eye Laboratory with the assistance of the Guangdong Government, providing more quarantine facilities and procuring more rapid test kits. May I also appeal all of you to be patient, stay at home and avoid going out, and encourage your families and friends to get vaccinated to protect the health of their own and the weaker ones.

The latest epidemic has again dealt a serious blow to our economy. Last month, the SAR Government has announced the launch of the fifth round of measures under the Anti-epidemic Fund (AEF) soon after the tightening up of the anti-epidemic measures, so as to provide support to premises and individuals directly affected. The related supporting schemes have been open for application, while some of which have already started the disbursement of subsidies. As for the sixth round of measures under the AEF with a preliminary scale no less than $20 billion, funding support from the Legislative Council will be sought after the details of the measures are ready.

The AEF aims to provide timely support to those affected by the epidemic and the related restrictive measures so as to help tide them over this difficult time. As for the upcoming Budget to be announced in less than three weeks, not only it should address the pressing needs in short- to mid-term, but also the planning needs for mid- to long-term development. While the recent development of the epidemic has poised a huge challenge to our economy, we should not overlook the risks from the external environment.

Since this year, the international political and economic environment is still complicated and changeable. The continuing bottleneck in global supply chain, coupled with the inflationary pressures on energy and commodity prices, not only affect the global economic outlook but also induce a high level of inflation in many major economies. This will bring further uncertainties to the pace of different major central banks in tightening up their monetary policies, amplifying the risk of fluctuation in global financial market and capital flow. We should also continue to pay attention to the development of the China-US relations and the international geopolitical situation. Given all these uncertainties, we should reserve our fiscal strength to a certain extent in order to safeguard the security and stability of Hong Kong’s financial institution.

No matter the challenging anti-epidemic work, or the mission of safeguarding a stable financial institution and our development security and interests, they all require us to have in-depth considerations and accurate assessments on the fundamental problems before making any decisions, and to have comprehensive planning and contingency plans to cater for extreme scenarios. Making the best preparation for the worst scenario is the important guiding principle for us in safeguarding the overall stable development of our society.

February 9, 2022