Mask shortage highlights the altruism of Shenzhen

The COVID-19 epidemic, also referred to as the novel coronavirus pneumonia, has not stopped spreading on the Chinese mainland, although the increase of confirmed cases has slowed down significantly and been surpassed by the increase of recovered patients in Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, including its capital city of Wuhan, as well as the rest of the mainland. Thus, disease prevention necessities such as surgical masks and coveralls are still in short supply everywhere, but more so on the mainland than in Hong Kong. Thankfully, many more surgical mask production lines on the mainland have resumed operation since last week, boosting the daily supply. However, supply is still overwhelmed by surging demand everywhere on the mainland at this point. This very fact has made Shenzhen's donation of face masks to Hong Kong all the more significant.

The challenging situation has not stopped the central government and mainland compatriots from doing everything possible to maintain basic daily supplies to 7.5 million Hong Kong residents. For example, after the central government rushed 17 million face masks to Hong Kong earlier, the neighboring city of Shenzhen offered on Monday to donate 1 million masks to Hong Kong, with 100,000 more every day after the distribution of this batch.

This is further proof that blood is thicker than water and the motherland genuinely and deeply cares about Hong Kong despite evil attempts by separatists in Hong Kong to poison people's minds with hatred. As a matter of fact, the brilliance of "one country, two systems" grows stronger when enemies of the Chinese nation step up their desperate acts of sabotage.

The municipal government of Shenzhen held a simple but heart-warming ceremony on Monday to present Hong Kong compatriots with a batch of 1 million face masks via the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, with the promise of 100,000 more a day as long as necessary. The protective gear is made in Guangdong, the heart of the Pearl River Delta region, where the COVID-19 epidemic has not been contained. According to latest official notices by national disease control authorities as well as regional centers around the country, including the Hong Kong and Macao SARs, people must remain on alert and take all preventive measures against the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen.

A noteworthy development on the virology and pathology research front points to the growing likelihood of the SARS-family virus not having originated in Wuhan after all. That notion is receiving more circumstantial backing from around the world as more lab tests found genetic evidence of coronavirus strains in Western countries, such as Italy and the US, that are different from the strain from Wuhan, prompting scientists to suspect there are multiple origins and the one found in Wuhan might not be the oldest, in addition to the common knowledge that the virus is constantly evolving and mutating. This means the "war" on the COVID-19 epidemic is not over yet, and face masks remain a valuable, strategic item.