Coronavirus: Hong Kong schools should reopen only if there are no locally transmitted infections for 28 days, medical expert says
- Professor David Hui says universities and secondary schools could reopen first, followed by primary schools and kindergartens after another two weeks
- Education sector says schools are not equipped to reopen because of the ongoing mask shortage
The city’s education sector, meanwhile, said mask procurement for students remained difficult, and called on publicly subsidised manufacturers to dedicate a portion of their production to smaller ones for children.
Hong Kong has introduced a raft of containment measures, including class suspensions, to combat the Covid-19 disease, which has so far infected 126 people locally and killed three.
The Education Bureau last month extended the suspension of kindergartens, primary and secondary schools – in force since February 3 – until April 20 at the earliest.
Chinese University respiratory medicine expert Professor David Hui Shu-cheong on Wednesday said universities and secondary schools could reopen first if no locally transmitted infections were recorded for four weeks, followed by primary schools and kindergartens after another two weeks, since younger children were more prone to close contact with each other.
“Normally it’s best to have two incubation periods, meaning 28 days [without cases]. Then the situation will be under control, and containment measures can be gradually relaxed,” Hui, who sits on a Covid-19 government advisory panel reporting directly to the city’s leader, told a radio programme.
But he also warned of a “long battle ahead” amid fears of more imported infections, saying there could be a second wave of infections in mainland China after people returned to work, and more global cases than thought because of under-reporting and weaker medical systems in some countries.