The source of the latest Hong Kong outbreak? Rich ladies...

When the corona virus broke out among migrants and students in Hong Kong, no one was surprised. The source of the latest outbreak is more surprising. The virus appears to be spread by wealthy ladies, who cannot resist ballroom dancing. In addition to annoyance at their anti-social behavior, the outbreak also causes chuckles, as the contact investigation reveals juicy details about the Hong Kong elite.

Hong Kong has been able to control the coronavirus reasonably well from the start. In total, the metropolis counted 6,123 infections and 108 deaths so far. But recently, the former British colony has been struggling with a new cluster: 587 local infections were registered in ten days, 417 of which were linked to a group of dance schools. The ‘dance cluster’ is the most serious outbreak in Hong Kong to date.

The first three Hong Kong outbreaks were caused by Chinese migrants, students returning from abroad and foreign sailors. Given the associations of dense populations with a debauched lifestyle, these sources were of little surprise.

But in the latest outbreak, the contact investigation mainly reveals addresses in the richest districts of Hong Kong. Addresses of golf clubs, horse racing tracks and star restaurants: places where the Hong Kong elite frequent each other. And a striking number of addresses of dance schools, with names such as Starlight Dance Club, Heavenly Dance and Shining Star Dance Studio. The infected also turned out to be mainly men in their thirties and women in their sixties and seventies.

All those pieces of the puzzle lead to the taitais as the source of this outbreak: richly married women who have not worked a day in their lives and fill their days with hobbies. One of those hobbies is ballroom dancing, preferably with a young dance teacher as a hired partner. Although the dance schools deny, it is rumored in Hong Kong that some young men do more than dance, and also offer their services as gigolo.

Rumba’s

Images from the dance schools appeared on the internet, of partners entwined in tangos and rumbas, without the masks required for close contact. Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, chided the dancers’ irresponsible behavior. Anyone who has visited the dance schools in recent weeks is obliged to undergo a test, under penalty of a fine of 215 euros.

In a city of immense inequality and social and political tensions, the outbreak among the elite caused some gloating. “It’s an interesting twist of fate that the outbreak is spreading past the apartments and villas of the wealthy,” said Chip Tso, a noted Hong Kong columnist in The Financial Times. “It’s not hard to imagine how scared they are.”

That gloating was short-lived. The virus has also infected dance school staff, and has spread beyond well-to-do circles. The economic damage also affects everyone. A long-awaited ‘travel bubble’ with Singapore, which was supposed to kick-start air traffic between the two business centers, has been postponed. All schools will close from Wednesday.