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Coronavirus Hong Kong
OpinionLetters

Letters | Hong Kong must accept its Omicron wave will be Lambda-shaped

  • Readers discuss the Omicron wave pattern, complain about differences in pricing of a rapid antigen test kit, suggest how the MTR can help alleviate the burden of the pandemic on children, and question the mandate for testing instead of vaccinations

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A man rests while queuing for a Covid-19 test in Victoria Park in Causeway Bay on February 28. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
Letters

In every country that Omicron has touched, the wave of infection shoots up and then shoots down, much like the Greek letter Λ for Lambda. It is the same, whether in countries with high vaccination rates, such as Britain, Israel and Denmark, or low vaccination rates, such as Uganda and South Africa, with or without mask mandates, vaccine passports or lockdowns. And this wave lasts largely between six and eight weeks.

So it was strange to see Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee warning us that “we must use the coming two to three months to curb the pandemic with several measures” (“HK to discharge patients faster as caseload soars”, February 27).

Because it’s going to happen anyway, regardless of all the panic and the “several measures” that include extensive lockdowns, mass testing and vaccine passports.

04:22

‘Large-scale lockdown’ expected when Hong Kong launches universal Covid-19 testing, source says

‘Large-scale lockdown’ expected when Hong Kong launches universal Covid-19 testing, source says

These measures will only delay the inevitable, which is for Omicron to pass through the population in Hong Kong. It has done so pretty much everywhere else; why should it be any different in Hong Kong? In the meantime, life is returning very much to normal in those countries.

Did Chan make her strange comment so that she can say, when we see the inevitable downward spike in infections, that we have controlled Omicron? Could she be that cynical? One hopes not.

Territory-wide infections may not be the worst outcome. A preprint study from researchers in Israel has concluded that, “natural immunity confers longer lasting and stronger protection against infection, symptomatic disease and hospitalisation” caused by the Delta variant than vaccines alone. For those with hybrid immunity – having been both infected and vaccinated – the protection is even greater. This new analysis should factor into our government’s Covid-19 strategies.

Peter Forsythe, Discovery Bay

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