The challenges of coordination and mobilisation of capacity are more easily overcome than the challenges of lost trust, low public cooperation, and peripheral consequences like panic-buying. Hong Kong’s aborted mass testing episode has raised more questions than answers about the government’s relationship with its citizens. We hope that this relationship will be strengthened before the next major crisis.
“Hong Kong must rebuild public trust to strengthen its crisis response, as Covid-19 mass-testing debacle shows.” South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), 30 Mar 2022, with Donald Low.