Hong Kong lawmaker contracts Covid after photo with Xi Jinping

• A lawmaker contracts Covid after taking a photo with the president.
• The president visited the city under tight observation.
• Nine were arrested ahead of Xi’s visit.

A Hong Kong lawmaker who posed for a photo with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week during the leader’s visit to the financial hub disclosed on Sunday that he had tested positive for coronavirus.

On his first travel outside of mainland China since the start of the pandemic, Xi visited Hong Kong under rigorous security measures to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the city’s transfer from Britain.

Steven Ho, a 42-year-old member of Hong Kong’s main pro-Beijing party who sits in the city’s rubber-stamp legislature, was one of approximately 100 officials permitted close contact with Xi on Thursday afternoon for a photo call.

According to photographs supplied by the administration, Ho was standing two rows immediately behind Xi.

He stated that the lawmaker tested negative on the first day of Xi’s visit, Thursday, then returned an inconclusive result on Friday.

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After the questionable test result, he did not participate in any events on Friday, according to a statement he released on social media.

“The sample of July 1 was one with extremely low infectivity and it was categorized as ‘uncertain’, but for the sake of public security, I did not participate in the events on that day,” Ho wrote.

Ho was the second DAB party member to test positive around the time of Xi’s visit.

Tam Yiu-chung, the sole representative of Hong Kong to Beijing’s highest legislative body, tested positive on Thursday and missed all events.

China is the only large economy still employing the zero-Covid strategy of eradicating outbreaks as they occur through the use of immediate lockdowns and widespread testing.

Xi has not left China in nearly 900 days, and the massive country’s borders are essentially closed to the majority of foreigners.

Hong Kong is adopting a softer version of zero-Covid but has maintained stringent travel and collection restrictions throughout the pandemic.

Tight controls were set to keep the coronavirus and political opposition out of Xi’s orbit during his trip to the city, where a democracy uprising was crushed three years ago.

Hundreds of government officials, parliamentarians, and invited guests were put into an anti-Covid “closed-loop” system, which included limiting social contacts, taking daily PCR testing, and checking into a quarantined hotel.

During the visit, sections of the city were closed, notable dissidents were placed under tight police observation, and a number of journalists were prohibited from covering the official activities.

In the week preceding Xi’s visit, the city’s national security officers made nine arrests, and at least two arrests were made on Friday.

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