Jason Leung Song-xue, who suffered brain damage in the Manila hostage drama, can breathe unaided and is showing slight movements after the hospital where he lies in a coma stopped all artificial sedation.
The 18-year-old, sole survivor of his family's three children, is showing slight responses in his limbs and some movement in his eyeballs and no longer needs a respirator.
But Undersecretary for Food and Welfare Gabriel Leung said it was too early to predict the progress of his recovery as his condition could change.
Tuen Mun Hospital placed him in a deep medically-induced coma after his return from Manila, where he was bashed on the head with a so far unidentified object during the hostage tragedy that left eight people dead.
The sedation, to rest his brain and help his recovery, was stopped on Monday.
Pneumonia from which Leung (pictured) had been suffering has been brought under control but doctors found yeast in his blood - a sign of a fungal infection - and have been treating it with antibiotics.
Private neurosurgeon Kan Yiu-ting said the next six months would be crucial in a determining how a patient like Leung would recover.
