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If the government’s measures

are ineffective in prevent-

ing the outbreak, no matter

how self-disciplined we are

in following hte government’s

rules, the pandemic will not

end.

HK $20,000 on average. He adds that the income he earns
from his other jobs is not stable.
Indoor volleyball courts in Hong Kong were closed
down for about eight months in 2020. Almost all volleyball
classes organised by HKEVA were cancelled during the
pandemic.
“We are not like tutorial classes which can be operat-
ed in a small room. We need a venue that is big enough
to practice volleyball techniques. We were forced to stop
when all venues that could be used for our classes were Source: info.gov.hk
closed,” he says. venting the outbreak, no matter how self-disciplined we
are in following the government’s rules, the pandemic will
Industry’s Voice Unheard not end,” he adds.
Yeung Chi-yin, a member of the Hong Kong Fitness
and Combat Sports Alliance, says that the alliance mem- The Government’s Flaws in its Decisions
bers are disappointed with the government’s lack of assis- Shun Lee Yue-shun, district councillor of Kam Ping in
tance to gym centres when they were closed. the Eastern District, has been helping the fitness industry
The alliance represents small to middle size gyms and by organizing press conferences and meetings with offi-
fitness schools in Hong Kong with 28 core members. They cials since March 2020.
were formed in March 2020 after the government’s orders Lee thinks that the loophole of the government’s pre-
to close all fitness centres and gyms as a preventive meas- ventive measures is the lack of border control.
ure. He knows that the number of centres applying to the
They had a meeting with Home Affairs Bureau officials government Anti-Epidemic Fund in September 2020
regarding the closure order. “But the officials did not ac- dropped by 400 to 1660 compared to April 2020.
cept our views…and they did not listen to us at all,” says The district councillor criticised the government for
Yeung, who owns a fitness school called Gymer Factory. having a poor understanding of the fitness industry.
Yeung knows that other labour unions representing the “The one-off HK $50,000 cash handout for us as com-
fitness industry and chain stores have sought help from pensation to business loss during the peak season in sum-
pro-government parties, such as the Liberal Party and mer is obviously not enough,” Lee says.
lawmaker Ma Fung-kwok, representing Sport, Performing “Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, the chief secretary, uses
Arts, Culture, and Publication functional constituency. the term ‘symbolic subsidy’ to describe the Anti-epidemic
“No matter who helps us voice out our needs, whether Fund for all industries. But different industries are facing
they are pan-democratic councillors or pro-establishment various difficulties,” he adds.
party members, the government just ignores all our con-
Edited by Laurissa Liu
cerns,” Yeung says. Edited by Laurissa Liu
Sub-edited by Agnes Lam
“If the government’s measures are ineffective in pre- Sub-edited by Agnes Lam