Explained: is Covid-19 helping China tighten its hold on Hong Kong?

Hong Kong, a hustling bustling hub of commercial and tourist activities bore a deserted look in the first half of March.

It was battling a fresh wave of Covid-19 induced by the omicron variant of the novel coronavirus and its chief executive Carrie Lam imposed the strict 'zero Covid' policy followed by mainland China.

The semi-autonomous city has for long resisted China's authority but the Xi Jinping govt saw the pandemic as an opportunity to consolidate its hold on Hong Kong.

Chinese workers are building make-shift hospitals in Hong Kong,the contracts for which have been handed over to a state-owned company.

Doctors and medical staff from the mainland have been sent there to treat patients. The work of the doctors in Hong Kong has been controversial, and is allowed by the local Emergency Regulations Ordinance, since they are not normally qualified to work in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam recently also announced that the authorities would be distributing a traditional Chinese medicine to households along with masks and Covid-19 testing kits.

In fact, to facilitate easy travel and transport of goods and raw material, China built a 'makeshift bridge' over the Shenzhen, the river that separates Hong Kong from the China. Metaphorically and physically extending the Chinese mainland into Hong Kong.