Hong Kong Covid-19 caseload surpasses 5,000 mark after 13 new infections emerge
- One of the local untraced cases involves university researcher working in laboratory with samples that are not contagious
- City needs to prepare for fourth wave by keeping border controls tight, says Dr Joseph Sung
Health experts urged the public to remain vigilant, pointing to the disease’s continuing spread in the community and warning the city must brace for another wave of infections this winter.
Despite the grim milestone, Hong Kong has managed to drive down the number of daily cases from more than 100 in July into the low double and single digits. But predicting the direction of the pandemic remained difficult, according to Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch at the Centre for Health Protection.
“We are seeing unknown cases every now and then,” she said. “From the universal community testing, we understand that there are a certain number of [hidden] cases in the community which are difficult to be picked up, so with the increase in social activities … it is possible that there may be some more cases coming and it is even possible to see a wider spread in the community.”
Chuang urged residents to continue to wear masks, wash their hands often and practise social distancing as much as possible.