Hong Kong Medical Sector Begins Strike Demanding Full Lockdown of China Border Areas

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] As the novel coronavirus infection (Wuhan pneumonia) rapidly spreads, the Hong Kong medical community has launched a strike on the 3rd, demanding a complete lockdown of the border area with mainland China.

According to the Hong Kong South China Morning Post (SCMP), the Hong Kong public healthcare union announced that they started the strike from this day after their request for a meeting with Chief Executive Carrie Lam, made the previous day, was rejected. At public hospitals in Hong Kong city on this day, public healthcare union members collected signatures from medical staff participating in the strike, with about 2,400 signatures gathered by noon.

They urged the government to make a decisive decision, stating, "If the border area with China is not completely sealed off, the novel coronavirus will spread rapidly, leading to shortages in medical facilities and personnel within Hong Kong." The public healthcare union warned that if the Hong Kong government does not respond to negotiations by 6 p.m. this day, an additional 6,000 people will join the strike starting from the 4th.

Although the strike proceeded on this day, most public hospitals in Hong Kong operated normally. The Hong Kong government urged the withdrawal of the strike, warning that if the medical community carries out a full strike, half of the scheduled surgeries would be postponed, threatening patients' lives.

Recently, the Hong Kong government has prohibited entry of residents of Hubei Province or those who have stayed in Hubei within the past 14 days, suspended train services connecting Hong Kong and mainland China, and banned individual tourists from mainland China from entering Hong Kong. As a result, the number of mainland Chinese visitors to Hong Kong has significantly decreased since last week.

However, the medical community argues that if mainland Chinese continue to visit Hong Kong, the novel coronavirus could spread rapidly, and therefore the border with China should be completely sealed off and Hubei residents in Hong Kong should be sent back to the mainland.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.