WHEN Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam made her explosive announcement on July 31 that elections scheduled for September would be delayed for a year because of the rampaging coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), few people in Hong Kong — quite possibly including Lam herself — were aware of another announcement being made at the same time on the mainland.

The Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office announced that the Chinese government had decided to send personnel to Hong Kong to help carry out mass testing for Covid-19. This decision, it said, had been made after a request from the Hong Kong administration.