Editorial | Latest local cluster a virus wake-up call
- Five cases linked to city warehouse show this is not the time to be complacent and everyone, from workers and employers to doctors, must not lower their guard
The global pandemic continues to put Hong Kong to the test, the latest being yet another cluster of local infections with no apparent origin. The total number – 1,087 – remains relatively small for a population of 7.5 million. How the latest outbreak will affect the city’s health control measures remains to be seen. But it shows there is no room for complacency.
The disquieting news has not just ended the more than two-week run of no local infections. It is also a reminder that Covid-19 is a still life-threatening virus lurking in the community. Three new cases, two women and a paramedic, yesterday are connected to an outbreak at a logistics company’s imported food warehouse in Kwai Chung. The women are colleagues of a critically ill 34-year-old taken to hospital on Saturday by ambulance. She was confirmed to have been infected along with her 56-year-old husband.
Such local infections of those without a recent travel history and from unknown sources are not the first. The previous local outbreak, a family in Tsuen Wan, was reported in mid-May. While the city must again reset its 28-day count before the epidemic can be declared fully under control, it has to come to terms with the fact that hidden infection chains in society have never disappeared. The threat is further heightened as more residents stranded overseas return on flights arranged by the government.
The latest outbreak also exposes inadequacies at different levels. With working at home over or nearing an end, the risk of workplace infections hinges on the awareness of individual companies and those they employ. Meanwhile, private doctors appear to have lowered their guard, with the three infected warehouse workers having previously visited clinics only to be treated as cases of respiratory infections.
Separately, some medical workers have been put under quarantine for not wearing full protective gear while treating the critically ill patient. That there is room for improvement is obvious. However much we want everything to get back to normal, the threat of Covid-19 has never fully gone away. While small clusters of infections may well be the new normal, a false sense of security is the last thing we need right now.