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“This has been made possible thanks to, first and foremost, the major breakthrough in our local political development in the last two years,” he said, referring to the national security laws imposed by Beijing in 2020. Many of those departing are young, some are wealthy, leaving the city with a demographic problem. In total, at least 88,000 have applied for the British National Overseas scheme which allows those born before the handover in 1997 to live in the UK.“Hong Kong’s lived-in home prices will drop 5 per cent in 2022,” a headline in Hong Kong’ssaid on Tuesday.“Prime London homes tipped for more price upside, buoyed by Hong Kong buyers,” read the headline next to it.
The pursuit of COVID-zero, required by Beijing to get the border open and for the mainland investment that Chan desires, is now also looking shaky as Omicron tests the capacity of Hong Kong’s tracing system.“It’s been difficult,” said Ben Cowling, the Chair of Epidemiology at the University of Hong Kong in a phone interview. “We haven’t achieved quarantine free travel with the mainland, and it looks like it might be difficult to do that in 2022.
This week more than 14 million people have been tested in Tianjin on a compulsory roster that prevents them from leaving home before a result.Cowling said for a COVID-zero strategy, this was the most effective method, but Hong Kong had been stuck between implementing some restrictions such as closing schools, while not harnessing compulsory mass test and trace measures.