Editorial | Firm response called for as Hong Kong’s Covid infections start to creep up again
- The government cannot sit back and wait for the numbers to fall, and the public must play its part or face the consequences
Repeated Covid-19 outbreaks have taught Hong Kong a hard lesson that the pandemic cannot be curbed without effective strategies and broad public support. Worryingly, the city has been put to the test again in the wake of spiralling infections in recent days. There is every reason to stay alert and do whatever it takes to ward off a possible resurgence.
Until last week, the government was seemingly content with a daily range of 300 local and imported cases, which is a significant drop from some 77,000 during the height of the fifth wave in March.
But discomfort grew when the caseloads crept from 200-to-300 per day a month ago to 543 on Monday. Another 489 cases were reported yesterday.
Describing the rise as a cause for concern, outgoing Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor was adamant that it was too early to say the city had already been hit by a sixth wave.
She stopped short of tightening social-distancing measures at this stage; but there will be no further easing of those measures and border controls until the end of the month.
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It will not take long to prove whether such an approach is the way forward. The government’s decision to opt for the status quo for the time being apparently stems from the city’s high vaccination rate – 87.4 per cent for two doses and 60 per cent for the third shot – and the relatively mild symptoms of the Omicron variant.