Businesses Complain Of Major Losses Due To Lockdown

Businesses in the Jordan area, which was locked down over the weekend following a surge in Covid-19 cases, say they have suffered great financial losses, while residents complained of confusing and inadequate arrangements.

A man surnamed Law said he runs a bakery in the area and estimates he lost HK$50,000 over the weekend.

He told RTHK that even after the lockdown order was lifted on Monday morning, officers guarding the building he lived in still asked him to show a wristband to prove he had tested negative for the coronavirus before letting him leave.

A butcher, meanwhile, said he is worried business will not pick up even after the area is reopened, because of stigmatisation.

“When [people] hear the words Yau Ma Tei, they are so scared as if they have seen ghosts,” he said.

Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung had earlier made clear there won't be any compensation for shops and residents affected by the lockdown.

Yau Tsim Mong district councillor Owan Li said he received complaints from elderly people who couldn’t attend medical checkups, as well as from people who were unable to go to work.

"The government thinks that no one will go to work during Saturday and Sunday, but unfortunately many residents in Yau Tsim Mong district, especially in Yau Ma Tei and Jordan, many residents and citizens have to go to work on Saturday and Sunday because they are grassroots," Li told RTHK's Hong Kong Today programme.

He said residents also told him that they did not receive sufficient support for food and daily necessities from the government during the lockdown.

Li described the lockdown as a "political mission", and accused authorities of failing to deal with the risks brought by poor sewage systems in sub-divided flats in the area.

Meanwhile, the director for food and environmental hygiene, Vivian Lau, paid a visit to the area hours after the lockdown was lifted.

When asked whether the government was doing enough to maintain hygiene as rats were spotted in the area, Lau said there are two rounds of rodent-control operations each year, adding that authorities will enhance education on how to handle leftover food as well as step up law enforcement.