Actually it might have worked.

Up until today there is actually prerequisite for airlines to apply flights under the five ONEs policy, only those who was still flying to China on 12 Mar are eligible to apply. This is the main reason why none of the American or European airlines can apply for even that one weekly quota, as they have suspended all routes to China before that. But this part of restrictions has just been lifted today
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...KBN23B081?il=0
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Under this new policy foreign airlines can also apply for one weekly frequency, but the route will be suspended for one week if there are 5 pax tested positive upon arrival. If there are more than 10 positive cases, the route will be suspended for 4 weeks.
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To get back to the topic, I guess the hope for cx to restart a meaningful number of routes even on reduced schedule will be tied to how quickly the transit restrictions in hkg is relaxed further. Airlines might only cancel flights much closer to hoping rules are eased and demand are back in.