{"id":1355327,"date":"2022-03-02T15:08:34","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T20:08:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1355327"},"modified":"2022-03-02T15:08:52","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T20:08:52","slug":"hong-kong-urges-calm-as-lockdown-rumors-prompt-panic-buying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hong-kong-urges-calm-as-lockdown-rumors-prompt-panic-buying\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong Urges &#039;Calm&#039; as Lockdown Rumors Prompt Panic Buying"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhong-kong-urges-calm-as-lockdown-rumors-prompt-panic-buying%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1355327&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam <a href=\"https:\/\/news.rthk.hk\/rthk\/en\/component\/k2\/1636368-20220228.htm\">urged<\/a> Hongkongers to remain \u201ccalm\u201d on Monday after rumors of an imminent citywide lockdown for mass Chinese coronavirus testing spurred people to panic buy and strip some local supermarket shelves bare, Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) reported.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to reporters at Hong Kong\u2019s Shenzhen Bay Port on February 28, Lam \u201ccalled for calm, saying the government is still assessing whether the public should be banned from leaving their homes during the mass testing,\u201d public broadcaster RTHK relayed.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Lam said she and her administration are \u201clooking at how a lockdown should be carried out if there was to be one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Earlier on Monday, Hong Kong Health Secretary Sophia Chan told local media \u201cthe option of a citywide lockdown to coincide with a universal Covid [Chinese coronavirus] testing programme in March had not been ruled out.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_16630772\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/GettyImages-1232280835.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16630772\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/GettyImages-1232280835.png\" alt=\"Hong Kong&#039;s Chief Executive Carrie Lam speaks during a press conference at the government headquarters in Hong Kong on April 13, 2021. (Photo by Anthony WALLACE \/ AFP) (Photo by ANTHONY WALLACE\/AFP via Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hong Kong\u2019s Chief Executive Carrie Lam speaks during a press conference at the government headquarters in Hong Kong on April 13, 2021. (Photo by ANTHONY WALLACE\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cChan said that to maximise the effectiveness of the testing exercise, the flow of people would need to be reduced and they \u2018should not go out \u2026 or they should stay home as far as possible,&#8217;\u201d according to RTHK.<\/p>\n<p>The statement sparked a wave of frantic supermarket shopping by concerned Hong Kong residents later Monday. Some of the panic buyers <a href=\"https:\/\/news.rthk.hk\/rthk\/en\/component\/k2\/1636344-20220228.htm\">told<\/a> RTHK they feared a government-imposed lockdown could see them sealed inside their homes for a prolonged period of time without access to food or water.<\/p>\n<p>One woman shopping at a grocery store in Hong Kong\u2019s Admiralty district on February 28 told the broadcaster she \u201crushed there to buy daily necessities after reading the news.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have two young kids at home, [so I\u2019m buying] things like rice, detergent, everyday goods,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n<p>Hong Kong\u2019s government issued a press release on March 1 seeming to confirm a plan to impose a mass coronavirus testing scheme on the city\u2019s populace later this month. The statement alluded to certain \u201cdetails\u201d of the plan that were yet to be \u201cfinalized,\u201d possibly referring to an accompanying lockdown measure.<\/p>\n<p>The press release <a href=\"https:\/\/news.rthk.hk\/rthk\/en\/component\/k2\/1636621-20220301.htm\">said<\/a> municipal officials \u201cneed to plan carefully for the mass testing scheme because of its sheer scale,\u201d adding that \u201conce the details are finalised, they will be publicised as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>RTHK reported on the evening of March 1 witnessing city government authorities <a href=\"https:\/\/news.rthk.hk\/rthk\/en\/component\/k2\/1636563-20220301.htm\">lock down<\/a> several residential buildings for coronavirus testing across six Hong Kong districts: Tsing Yi, Sha Tin, Tin Shui Wai, Tung Chung, Kowloon City, and Kwun Tong.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cResidents of Chun Hin House at Ching Chun Court, Pok Man House at Pok Hong Estate, Heng Kin House at Tin Heng Estate, Kit Yat House at Yat Tung (II) Estate, Tak Sui House at Tak Long Estate and Shing Tai House at On Tai Estate must get tested and stay at home until further notice,\u201d the government-funded broadcaster revealed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam urged Hongkongers to remain \u201ccalm\u201d on Monday after rumors of an imminent citywide lockdown for mass Chinese coronavirus testing spurred people to panic buy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1355327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1355327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1355327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1355327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1355327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}