Coronavirus in Hong Kong: Top 5 Most Unusual Moments in Finance
2. Viral Virus
In the era of fake news, one must even be wary of fake, fake news. At least that was the case for one hedge fund manager who was wrongly accused of maliciously smearing saliva on a handrail in a public subway.
After an attempt to raise awareness with a parody video backfired and led to online outrage, the chief investment officer rushed to clarify the situation, proactively reaching out to local media, police and subway authorities. He embarrassingly explained that he was misunderstood, showing a less widely distributed video of himself wiping the handrail afterward with disinfectant.
3. Close Calls
Hong Kong’s banking sector faced two close calls including one incident where a victim was first incorrectly tested as a «highly probable» case of coronavirus infection.
In January this year, HSBC evacuated one of its offices for sterilization after one of its employees had contracted influenza, though rumors initially emerged of potential coronavirus infection. And just last week, a Goldman Sachs investment banker had his misfortunes reversed after hospital confirmed that he was not infected despite initial clinic testing that indicated a likely case.
Unfortunately, the sector's streak of no cases was broken this month as an employee from HSBC had reportedly been infected in one of the city's branches.
