Coronavirus: Hong Kong restarts clock on zero untraceable cases as boy confirmed as infected
- Microbiologist makes his determination after inspecting the private and public laboratories that handled the specimen testing
- Health experts have said 28 days, or two incubation periods of the disease, is the marker for achieving ‘zero local infections’
The government has been aggressively pursuing a goal of zero infections as it seeks to ease travel restrictions with mainland China and the confirmation of the case could prove an obstacle in negotiations.
In an interview with the Post, Secretary for Food and Health Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee played down the prospect of a quick resumption of quarantine-free travel within the nation, saying the matter would be decided according to a prevention and control mechanism jointly operated with Guangdong province and Macau.
“We have been in constant discussion and will notify the public once there is new information,” Chan said.
Health experts have long pointed to 28 consecutive days without a local untraceable infection – equal to two incubation periods of the virus – as a benchmark of success in bringing the pandemic under control. Hong Kong would have hit that target on Friday if the four-year-old boy had been found free of the coronavirus.