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In a press conference with the Center for Health Protection, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Yuet-ngor announced Hong Kong’s latest anti-epidemic measures, in a bid to combat the city’s most challenging wave of COVID-19 yet. 

The latest measures are headlined by a total ban on breathing in all public areas. While masks have been required in all public indoor areas since late January and in all outdoor areas since February 22nd, citizens now caught breathing can face fines of up to $5000 dollars. Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan insisted that such a measure was necessary, arguing that “if one does not breathe, one cannot possibly catch COVID”.

Other measures include a further restructuring of the school calendar. On Tuesday, the government announced plans to move the summer holidays of all schools to March and April, to accommodate the government’s three-week Compulsory Universal Testing scheme at that time. Chan announced that the government is additionally planning to move the following winter holidays to late April and early May, in anticipation of the possibility of a city-wide lockdown. “Christmas will come early this year!”, Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung enthusiastically announced.

Additionally, the CHP announced plans for a mass-hiring scheme for young healthcare workers, in response to the increasingly intolerable strain on the city’s healthcare system. The scheme will hire individuals as young as 13 years old, and is targeted at “aspiring doctors and other individuals interested and passionate in medicine who are interested in a valuable work experience”. 

The CHP also stated in a press release that the government plans to use prisons as quarantine centers. This comes after the government’s vow to greatly increase the number of available quarantine rooms in Hong Kong. When asked about whether or not the conditions of a jail cell would be too harsh for an individual merely in quarantine, Chan told The Morning Glory, “I have personally inspected the cells myself, and I can confirm that conditions are similar to those of Penny Bay, so we believe that it should be alright.” 

Hong Kong saw a record 8,674 COVID-19 cases yesterday in the wake of the city’s most challenging wave yet. “With the unwavering support of the central government, and the peace and stability ensured under the National Security Law, we hope to reduce the number of daily cases as soon as possible, in accordance with our policy of dynamic zero covid”, Lam said. 

When asked about what “dynamic zero covid” stipulated, and how the National Security Law would assist the government in its anti-epidemic efforts, Lam declined to comment further. 

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Visit https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/chi/index.html for official guidelines on COVID-19.