It is 0715 on a cold February morning and Madame Leung Lai is waiting in a queue for her local supermarket to open in 15 minutes. “I need to buy face masks and toilet paper,” she says. “The

shop may not have any. Is this not ridiculous? How can there be a shortage in a city as rich as this, with transport links all over the world? Our government is hopeless and cares nothing

for us.” Compared to other Chinese cities, Hong Kong has been spared the worst of the coronavirus. So far, one person here has died and there are 50 confirmed cases. Business and commercial

life continues; the subways, buses and mini-buses are running, albeit with fewer passengers than before the epidemic. Most people wear face masks outside. The government and private

to rescue its 2,200 citizens in Wuhan and other cities in Hubei province. Ten of them have been infected with the virus. Hong Kong television is running interviews with the trapped people,

begging to be taken home. They are unable to leave the places where they live and say they do not go to local hospitals, because there are no spare beds and they fear contracting the virus

there. “[Chief Executive] Carrie Lam is without feeling or compassion,” said Mary Wong, an officer in a storage company. “She does not care for us any more. She does not want to do

anything.” The consensus among local people is that, several months ago, Lam tendered her resignation but Beijing refused it. So they believe she has neither the motivation nor the ability

to manage a crisis of this magnitude. Wong said that, to avoid contact with people in a confined space, she did not take a bus or subway to work but walked, a journey of one hour. “I do not

go out for meals with my friends. Even our church has cancelled services since January. The minister posts sermons, which we watch on YouTube. Life is boring. I expect this to last for

months, probably until July.” The most widespread complaint is a shortage of face masks, toilet paper and cleaning liquids. People here are not used to shortages in a city that is one of the

world’s leading retail centres, with air, sea and road links all over the globe. Doctors recommend changing face masks every day. The government has left the supply of face masks to the

free market. This has led queues lasting for hours, shortages and retailers charging up to three times the market price. In neighbouring Macao, the government acted quickly. In January, it

distributed 20 million stockpiled masks through 50 pharmacies. Those buying had to show their Macao identity card and were limited to 10 masks at a time. Ten days later, they could buy more

masks. If Macao could do this, why not Hong Kong, local people asked. Such is the poisonous social atmosphere that, when the government suggested using apartment blocks to house those being

quarantined, local residents took to the streets in protest, demanding that it use more remote locations. Sometimes these protests turned violent. On February 14, Disneyland agreed to lend a

site of 60 hectares for the building of quarantine facilities. The land is reserved for the expansion of the theme park and is far from residential areas. On February 13, the Beijing

government announced important changes of personnel. This is a prelude to a decision on Lam’s departure date and her successor. Xia Baolong, 67, was appointed director of the Hong Kong &

Macao Affairs Office. Xia is a senior official, who worked under President Xi Jinping as deputy Communist Party chief in Zhejiang province from 2003 to 2012. He was then party chief of the

province from 2012-2017. He is best known as the “destroyer of churches”. During his term in Zhejiang, he ordered the demolition of more than 2,000 crosses and churches. Wenzhou in Zhejiang

is the “Jerusalem of China,” with the highest percentage of Protestant believers of any city in the country. Videos on the internet showed that the demolition jobs were usually conducted in

the middle of the night, with giant cranes and demolition teams protected by armed police. They had to break through lines of the faithful surrounding the church. There were hymns, protests,

screaming and sometimes violence. “We expect Lam to be dismissed in March,” said David Chan, a business consultant. “One of Xia’s tasks will be to find a successor. The problem is that no

one wants the job. The eight months of protest showed that it is a poisoned chalice.”