The news that the government is finally getting serious about Covid-19 contact tracing and establishing a command centre is overdue. But many would also see it as underwhelming. That is understandable. It comes 11 months after the city’s first outbreak of infection just as the fourth wave appears to be losing momentum, with the new caseload falling. The city could have done with best-practice contact tracing much earlier. In that respect it is a reminder of why the government has faced criticism for a lack of comprehensive and strategic anti-pandemic measures. There seems no question these gaps have contributed to successive waves of infection in Hong Kong. Hong Kong ‘to launch command centre’ to ramp up Covid-19 tracing Fortunately, these have been mild compared with the public health catastrophes that have overtaken other parts of the world. For that, credit where credit is due to the government and health authorities for anti-contagion and public health measures that they have got right, and to the mainland for bringing the initial mass outbreak across the border under control relatively quickly. Experience in countries more successful than most in containing the coronavirus, including the mainland, have demonstrated the effectiveness and importance of contact tracing. It does not come without misgivings, for example in respect of cherished rights like privacy, which had a lot to do with the reluctance to push contact tracing earlier. Contact tracing – privacy vs urgency in the fight against Covid-19 The authorities have now gone about resourcing it properly, with a command centre staffed by about 100 officers from the disciplinary services and other government workers, who will significantly ramp up tracing of close contacts of coronavirus patients. With the expanded monitoring the authorities hope to map the movements of possible carriers and uncover silent transmission. Despite its belated introduction, it would be premature to discount the value of contract tracing. The ease with which the virus can still slip through defences is evidence of that. And reminders of it are to be found in the appearance of more infectious strains and the alarming discovery last week of scores of new local infections in Hebei province which led to the lockdown of Shijiazhuang. This battle is far from over. We cannot relax lest worse is to come.