As it fights to contain a spiraling coronavirus outbreak, Hong Kong's government used emergency powers on Thursday (Feb 24) to enable doctors and nurses from the Chinese mainland to practice in the financial capital.
Thousands of cases of COVID-19 are being reported every day in the highly populated metropolis, overwhelming hospitals and government efforts to segregate all sick persons in dedicated facilities.
Hong Kong has pursued a zero-COVID strategy similar to mainland China, which has kept infections at bay for the most part during the pandemic.
They were taken off guard when the extremely infectious Omicron variety got through those defenses, and they've been relying on mainland China for assistance ever since.
"Hong Kong is now facing a very dire epidemic situation which continues to deteriorate rapidly," the government said in its statement announcing the use of emergency powers.
Currently, Chinese mainland medics are not permitted to practice in Hong Kong unless they pass local exams and meet licensing requirements.
The emergency powers "exempt certain persons or projects from all relevant statutory requirements ... so as to increase Hong Kong's epidemic control capacity for containing the fifth wave within a short period of time", the statement said.
Last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged Hong Kong to use "any necessary means" to suppress the spread, indicating that Hong Kong will not be allowed to adapt to living with the virus as the rest of the world has.
In the current wave, Hong Kong has recorded almost 62,000 COVID-19 cases, compared to only 12,000 in the previous two years.
Because of a testing backlog and many avoiding testing for fear of being forced into isolation units if they are positive, health experts believe the true figure is far higher.
According to the Hospital Authority, some 1,200 healthcare workers have been infected as of Wednesday.
On Monday, Hospital Authority Chairman Henry Fan told state media that he hoped the mainland government would send over doctors and nurses because local manpower is already "exhausted."
Allowing Chinese mainland doctors to work in Hong Kong has been a topic of controversy for some years.
Even before the pandemic, supporters believed that it could help the city's overburdened healthcare system. Local medical practitioners have previously complained, claiming linguistic and cultural difficulties, while critics have dismissed such rhetoric as protectionism.
After the province was restored from the British colonial administration in 1997, Hong Kong was meant to operate as a semi-autonomous area of China. However, this autonomy has been lost in recent years as China has repressed a democratic movement.
