How a birthday party exposed Hong Kong officials to the harsh reality of zero-Covid
 He's an unlikely critic of the Hong Kong government — but after being hauled off to mandatory quarantine at the weekend, pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho did not hold back.
Broadcasting live on Facebook on Saturday, Ho, who is known for his staunchly pro-establishment views, slammed his hand on the table and shook his finger angrily. The city's uncompromising Covid-19 strategy was as unsound as "sandcastles on the beach," he said.
"The government's handling of matters is completely outrageous, completely disordered!" he said in another post that night.
Ho was among dozens of Hong Kong bureaucrats and lawmakers ordered into quarantine last week after they were potentially exposed to Covid-19 at an official's birthday party on January 3.
More than 200 people attended the event at a Spanish restaurant, of which at least one has been confirmed positive with Covid-19. An investigation is underway to determine whether the restaurant or any of the officials present broke any rules.
Hong Kong, along with mainland China, is one of the few places still following a strict zero-Covid model. The city is largely closed off to the outside world, with the government doubling down on its aim of eliminating all local cases of the virus in the hope of reopening its border with mainland China.
Stringent restrictions, a sweeping track, trace and test regime, and harsh border measures, including 21 days of quarantine for almost all arrivals, have kept the infection rate and death toll remarkably low for a city of 7.5 million.
But the controversial and divisive measures have also served to isolate Hong Kong, taking a toll on international businesses and any resident who wishes to travel.
In Hong Kong, anyone who tests positive for the virus or is deemed a close contact of a confirmed case faces serious consequences.
Positive cases are sent to hospital, regardless of whether they have symptoms. They can only leave after testing negative for the virus twice in succession, upon which they must complete another 14 days of isolation in a government camp.
Close contacts — like Ho and the partygoing officials — also face weeks of isolation and multiple tests at a government facility.
In his video, Ho made no apology for going to the party, which ignored government guidance to avoid large gatherings amid Hong Kong's first local outbreak of coronavirus cases in nearly three months.
Instead, the 59-year-old lawmaker had a long list of complaints about his experience at the Penny's Bay government quarantine center.
It was late at night, but he hadn't eaten dinner. He said he was not allowed to drive to the facility, authorities had taken too long to arrange transportation, and the rules were altogether too rigid. The city's leader, Carrie Lam, should resign over the party scandal, he said.
The current Covid outbreak in Hong Kong, driven by the highly infectious Omicron variant, has been traced to infected aircrew members from Hong Kong flag carrier, Cathay Pacific, who violated isolation rules by going to restaurants and bars.
In response, the government last week imposed new restrictions, including closing bars and suspending dine-in at restaurants after 6 p.m.
Lam criticized Cathay's senior management for the actions of its staff and said the government would take legal action against the airline if necessary. "Although the management may not be aware of all the actions that each employee takes, it's not an excuse to not to be blamed," she said.
The new restrictions have deepened public frustration with the pro-Beijing government, who many view as being out-of-touch with local needs.
Following last year's "China patriots only" election, the city's legislative body is made up exclusively of pro-Beijing or pro-establishment members.
And as details of the birthday party emerged, the public outcry grew louder, with many calling out the alleged hypocrisy.
"At the height of the fire, you still attended such a large gathering? Are you encouraging the public to do the same as you?" one top comment read below Ho's Facebook video.
Many of the officials who attended the party have publicly apologized and vowed to be more careful in future. They include Hong Kong's police commissioner, treasury secretary, anti-corruption commissioner and home affairs secretary.
But almost as quickly as they'd been whisked away to quarantine, Ho and several other officials were released after one of the cases linked to the party was deemed a false positive.
"They had me waiting around all day, and only told me now I can go!" Ho said on Facebook. "And they can only send me to the Tsing Yi MTR station — if that was the case, they should have told me earlier so I could get a driver to come pick me up!"
On Monday, the government shortened its policy of 21 days quarantine for close contacts to 14 days, citing a lack of capacity and the shorter incubation time for the Omicron variant.
Lam said the party scandal was a "deep disappointment." Pending the investigation, she would take action if officials were determined to have broken the rules, she added.
But apparently contradicting her earlier comments about Cathay Pacific, she stopped short of taking personal responsibility.
Accountability "does not mean that I'm responsible of the decisions and actions of my colleagues," she said January 6, adding the party was "a private event."
At a news conference Tuesday, Lam admitted she had attended a wedding banquet in late November or early December, but urged the public to avoid "fault-finding."
There had been "criticisms about the way that we handle this epidemic," Lam said, but she defended the government's tough anti-Covid stance.
"There is no point to say who is at fault and who is the source of all these problems because the problems will occur as we continue to fight the epidemic," she said.
"The importance is we maintain the vigilance to enforce, and we punish people who fail to comply by issuing penalties and also taking them to court."  Jessie Yeung is a Digital Producer for CNN International in Hong Kong. She writes breaking news and features about the Asia-Pacific region.   China's northern port city of Tianjin and central province of Henan have further tightened Covid restrictions as the highly contagious Omicron variant continues to spread, posing the gravest challenge yet to the country's zero-Covid strategy.
Tianjin, which detected China's first community spread of Omicron on Saturday, is rolling out a second round of mass testing on its 14 million residents on Wednesday. As of noon Tuesday, 97 people had tested positive.
The outbreak has already spread to Anyang, a city in Henan province some 300 miles away, prompting a full lockdown. On Wednesday, the city of Dalian in northeastern China said two recent returnees from Tianjin had tested positive — raising fears that the new variant has spread to a third city.
The Omicron outbreak is particularly worrying to officials in Beijing, which lies about 80 miles northwest of Tianjin — and about 30 minutes away by high-speed rail. The Chinese capital is due to host the Winter Olympics on February 4.
Tianjin officials said at a news conference Tuesday that all bus services to Beijing had been suspended. Train tickets from Tianjin to Beijing have been closed for purchase online since Sunday evening.
On Wednesday, 425 flights were canceled at Tianjin Binhai International Airport, accounting for 95% of all scheduled flights, according to flight-tracking app VariFlight.
Tianjin authorities on Sunday ordered citizens not to leave the city unless absolutely necessary. Those who want to leave must present a negative Covid test taken within 48 hours and obtain approval from their employer or local government offices.
"When facing Omicron directly, we found its speed of transmission really is very fast," Zhang Ying, deputy director of Tianjin's disease control center, said in an interview with state broadcaster CCTV Monday.
"Therefore, whether it is in terms of virus origin tracing, epidemiological investigations or restrictions and controls, the Omicron variant has brought unprecedentedly massive challenges," she said.
On Tuesday, Anyang was placed under strict lockdown, after two Omicron cases linked to the Tianjin outbreak were identified over the weekend. The city has reported a total of 123 cases.
In Anyang, all 5.5 million residents are confined to their homes, while businesses and factories are shut. More than 4,000 students and staff from a school have been transferred to government-run quarantine facilities after nearly a dozen people tested positive for the virus. Videos from state media show students from elementary school to high school in full hazmat suits being uploaded to buses.
A university student who returned to Anyang for winter break from Tianjin on December 28 is believed to have brought back the virus — suggesting the variant has already been spreading in Tianjin for nearly two weeks, at the least.
On Wednesday, health authorities in Dalian city, Liaoning province said two university students who returned from Tianjin on Saturday had tested positive for Covid in the morning.
Authorities did not specify whether the students had Omicron, but their travel history showed they had spent five days in Jinnan district, where the Omicron outbreak was most serious, before leaving Tianjin by train. They tested negative when they left Tianjin — and again on Monday, after arriving in Dalian.  Nectar Gan is China Reporter for CNN International in Hong Kong. She covers the changes taking place in China, and their impact on the world.  Festival calligraphy A man arranges the Spring Festival, or Lunar New Year, couplets written by visiting calligraphy artists for workers at a factory in Hangzhou, in Zhejiang province, on January 10. Lunar New Year, the country's biggest annual holiday, arrives on February 1.  China's real estate sector is having a rocky start in 2022, as some of the country's most high-profile developers struggle to shake off a crisis that has been growing for months.
This week, two major credit rating agencies downgraded Shanghai-based developer Shimao Group further into junk territory. The company has been grappling with mounting debt and is considering selling some properties to reduce its debt load.
"Shimao's liquidity has significantly deteriorated — the decline is worse than we previously anticipated," said S&P Global Ratings, which cut the company's credit rating to B-. Just two months ago, S&P was still rating Shimao as investment grade.
Moody's on Monday also cut Shimao's rating to B2 citing "elevated" liquidity risks, a large amount of debt due in the near term, and weakening access to funding.
Over the weekend, Chinese media outlet Caixin reported that Shimao has put on sale all of its domestic real estate projects as the cash-strapped firm scrambles to dispose of assets. Shanghai Shimao International Plaza, one of the tallest skyscrapers located in the heart of Shanghai, could be sold to the city's government-owned firms for more than 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion), the report said.
On Tuesday, Shimao denied in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing it had entered into any preliminary agreement about the disposal of Shanghai Shimao International Plaza, but it acknowledged that it is in discussions with potential buyers about some asset sales.
The pressure on Shimao marks yet another snag for Chinese real estate, which has been in crisis for a while. The problem escalated significantly last fall as Evergrande — China's most indebted developer with some $300 billion in liabilities — began warning more urgently of liquidity problems.
Evergrande has since been labeled a defaulter by Fitch Ratings after appearing to miss paying some financial obligations last month. Government officials are also now involved with Evergrande's newly established risk management committee, a move widely perceived as guiding the company through a restructuring of its debt and sprawling business operations.  Laura He is a reporter and digital producer for CNN Business. She covers news about Asian business and markets from Hong Kong. Around Asia
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