| Hong Kong has done a masterful job at keeping coronavirus under control, logging just 11,329 cases since the outbreak began more than a year ago. For comparison, that's less than half the number of people diagnosed each week in New York City. The success is a result of a draconian effort to track and trace the virus, shutting down any cluster of cases before they can spiral out of control. Foreign visitors aren't allowed, and even residents have to endure a three-week quarantine in designated hotels when returning from abroad. The price of the control hit home for many in the expatriate community this week, after a spate of cases emerged at a gym popular within the tight-knit world of mostly Westerners who work for global financial institutions. Many of their children attend international schools with annual fees of HK$250,000 ($32,000) or more. Neither group was spared. HSBC's main Hong Kong office was closed until further notice after three people working in the building tested positive. Other banks, including Goldman Sachs and UBS, increased the number of employees working from home.
 Customers sit inside a restaurant in Hong Kong. Photographer: Roy Liu/Bloomberg And it's not just offices. Some residential areas were locked down and people living in several expensive high-rises in the city center weren't allowed to leave their buildings until they had been tested. Hundreds of people, including a playgroup of eight 11- to 18-month-old babies and their caregivers, were sent into quarantine. The city's quarantine measures are among the world's strictest, with close contacts of positive cases staying at centralized, austere surveillance facilities for up to two weeks to ensure they aren't infected. A survey by the American Chamber of Commerce found that a majority of residents are worried that entire school classes could be sent to government quarantine facilities, a move that would lead many of them to consider relocating if the rules aren't changed. Hong Kong's quarantine rules are still not as strict as in mainland China, but a key difference is that its economy relies on the free flow of foreign talent and capital from the West. After two volatile years that included restive street protests, the tightening of Beijing's political control and oppressive pandemic-control measures, the former British colony's attractiveness as a global financial hub hangs in the balance.—Michelle Cortez | 
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