Hong Kong’s Home Secretary Caspar Tsui, on Monday, submitted his resignation letter, over criticisms that trailed his participation in a birthday banquet in early January.

It was reported that two of the approximately 200 guests had tested positive for COVID-19.

“I made the wrong decision to attend a banquet on January 3, and behaved in an inappropriate manner when all efforts should have been devoted to controlling the spread of the virus,” the politician said in a statement. “I will take responsibility for my actions, and I have, therefore, decided to resign from the position of secretary for home affairs.”

The ceremony, which was also attended by police chief Raymond Siu and head of the Immigration Department Au Ka-wang, had sparked fierce criticism among the residents of Hong Kong.

This was shortly before the health authorities of the special administrative region had still advised the population to avoid large gatherings.

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam spoke of how the high-ranking politicians who attended the birthday banquet had not set a good example for Hong Kong people.

Hong Kong has a strict zero-COVID policy with tight restrictions on entry.

However, in recent weeks, daily infection rates within the metropolis had nevertheless increased significantly, with the seven-day average of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants currently exceeding 90. 

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is fighting to shore up his premiership amid a revolt by his own lawmakers angry over a series of lockdown parties in Downing Street.

Propelled into the top job to “get Brexit done,” Mr Johnson in 2019 won his party’s biggest majority in more than 30 years but now faces calls to resign after a series of revelations about parties in Downing Street – the prime ministers’ home and office – during COVID-19 lockdowns.

Mr Johnson has repeatedly apologised to the parties and said he was unaware of many of them.

However, he attended what he said he thought was a work event on May 20, 2020, to which revellers had been told to “bring their own booze.”

To trigger a leadership challenge, 54 of the 360 Conservative MPs in parliament must write letters of no confidence to the party’s 1922 Committee chairman.

(dpa/NAN)