Atypical Pneumonia

We can best support those on the front line against atypical pneumonia by following the advice on hygiene and staying healthy.

In my thirty-odd years as a public officer, I have participated in fighting a few "wars" on the financial front. One or two of them were rather tough ones, but none of them was life threatening, at least not to those fighting them. And we knew, more or less, the form that the enemies took and how they operated. We knew where they came from and what they wanted. We knew how to defeat them, and we had the wherewithal to do so. By hook or by crook, and sooner or later, we could find a way to get at them. If worst came to worst, we could change the rules, or even just talk about changing the rules, and they would flee.

Imagine fighting a war when you cannot see, hear, taste, smell, touch, feel or sense your enemy. In fact, the consequences of so encountering the enemy could in some cases be fatal. Worse still, you have very little idea of its behavioural characteristics - how it moves around, what it likes and where its vulnerabilities lie. You only get to know that it is there when it is too late. You do not have the armour that guarantees you full protection in fighting it and you do not have the arsenal to kill it. And there are no rules that you can change to your advantage. The only rules that apply are the rules of nature, and we all have to live in accordance with these. This seems to be the kind of war that Hong Kong is now fighting - the war against atypical pneumonia.

Those who are fighting this war - the nurses, the doctors, and the many other staff in and around our hospitals - are the true heroes. They are the ones that can be said to have true courage. They are fighting the war on behalf of every one of us. They deserve our highest respect, and our full support.

I know nothing about medicine, but I do know from movies that in fighting a military war one of the worst things is for our own people to give the enemy room for manoeuvre. I know from actual experience that in fighting a war on the financial front one of the worst things is to provide liquidity to the enemy. We can therefore help our courageous fighters on the battlefront by eliminating possible breeding grounds for the enemy and by starving it. We should take the advice that has repeatedly been given to us about personal and environmental hygiene and follow it meticulously. This is the least that we should do and we owe this to the many medical staff fighting this war, particularly those who have fallen into the clutches of the enemy.

And we have to stay healthy for possible wars on other fronts that each of us may have to fight, in whatever trade we are in. The impact of the outbreak of atypical pneumonia on the economy is likely to be significant, and it has adverse implications for financial markets. I hope that these implications will not take on a systemic dimension. While we hope for the best, we must be prepared for the worst - "one woe doth tread upon another's heel, so fast they follow". Do keep healthy and stay on the alert.

Joseph Yam

24 April 2003

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