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Property tycoon Ronnie Chan urges Hong Kong government to rethink tough Covid-19 stance
- The billionaire chairman of Hang Lung Properties said the city’s measures, which include strict social distancing rules, make life difficult for businesses
- Chan believes the Omicron variant sweeping through the city appears to produce symptoms similar to influenza
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Property tycoon Ronnie Chan has urged the government to rethink Hong Kong’s tough stance on Covid-19 as the highly infectious Omicron variant appears to produce milder symptoms than its counterparts.
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The billionaire chairman of Hang Lung Properties said the city’s measures, which include strict social distancing rules and a lengthy quarantine period, make life extremely difficult for businesses.
He compared the severity of the Omicron strain of the coronavirus to influenza.
“It seems Omicron is going in the direction of becoming flu-like. It is possible to consider how the policy needs to progress. There may be a need to study the possibility of a change,” he said at a briefing on Thursday.
Chan said the current zero-covid policy would make sense if the virus caused a high percentage of deaths. He said an approach based on building herd immunity would be “fine” if the current wave of infections does prove similar to influenza.
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Within a few hours of Chan making his comments on Thursday, his prayers were partially answered. Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced that the 21-day quarantine requirement for incoming travellers is to be shortened to two weeks from February 5, given the much shorter incubation period of the Omicron strain.
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