A thread drift here about testing. I have heard of the appalling treatment of passengers and crew when being tested at HKIA, from general rudeness of the airport health staff to outright verbal aggression and the delightful woman who aims to give the back of your skull a swab whilst taking a nasal/pharyngeal sample. One pilot reported that she draws blood from him each time he tests.
I have just seen how it is done in the civilised world. I needed to drive someone to a testing station in Canada today after she was in contact with a positive case at her place of work. The online booking was straightforward and the same morning. A testing station was within 5 km of her home and there were many stations scattered throughout the Fraser valley. Arriving 15 minutes early we were directed politely to a drive through lane, and given a bag containing a test kit. This is a saline gargle, which you expect into a tube, and put into a sealed bag. As she did not have a Canadian medical number we waited two minutes until they gave her a temporary one from the computer. We were told it might take 24 to 48 hours for the result and that we should self isolate until then.
Six hours later she got a text saying she was negative. If it had been positive we would have been required to self isolate at home for 10 days or 14 days, depending on various circumstances.
So no abuse by health and security staff. No four to six hour wait in punitive conditions at the airport for a result. No threat of being taken immediately under police custody to hospital if positive. No incarceration of family, friends and the entire population of your tower block in the disgusting Pennys Bay. No repeating this procedure ad nauseam for crews rotating through HKIA.
So yet again we see the Hong Kong government under its masters treating its people with disdain and contempt for their decency and civil status as a citizen of their country.
I know that asking the question "Why" in Asia can lead to madness in the logical mind, but I cannot help but think that beyond the need to punish the Hong Kong people for its transgressions over the past three years there must be an alternative answer in the the "Follow the money" vein. Who is really making the money out of all these unnecessary testing procedures?