Carrie Lam defends partial lockdown in Jordan

The Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, has defended the government’s unprecedented decision to impose a partial lockdown in Jordan, saying it was a matter of public health.

Speaking to reporters after inspecting the restricted zone on Saturday, Lam said there had been a spike in Covid-19 infections in the Kowloon district, which has many old and dilapidated buildings.

She said it was particularly concerning that 90 percent of waste water samples from the area had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Lam said she’d instructed her colleagues to do what they could for affected residents, adding that her administration would learn from the experience so it would be more prepared for a similar situation in future.

But the CE sidestepped questions as to whether store owners, or other people doing business in the area, would be compensated.

“Any public health measures, especially in terms of mandating people to be subject to tests, requiring shops and premises to close … it requires the full cooperation of the citizens and also the businesses. But the government is obliged to provide all the needed assistance. In this case, for example, we know that the residents being affected are not allowed to leave their homes for up to 48 hours. So what the government has done is we provide them with food packs, which we believe should be able to support them for the next two days”, she said.

Lam also stressed that the restrictions were nothing like the lockdowns seen on the mainland or abroad, saying the impact was minimal.

“A lockdown normally means you are not allowed to go out for a period. But in our case, this prohibition is linked to the test… so once the compulsory testing is being completed, then the order will be lifted and people will be allowed to go out,” she said.

When asked to assess her own performance in combating Covid-19 over the past year, Lam said her government had done “all it could” to battle the virus.

“There is no best, only better,” she said.