Coronavirus: Delta variant may still make vaccinated Hongkongers highly infectious, but shots can reduce severity of illness, experts say

Quick action to isolate, test 27-year-old’s neighbours, contacts helped prevent virus spreading, government adviser says

Jabs can help against highly infectious Delta variant, but mainly to prevent severe illness, death

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Covid-19 vaccines help mainly with protecting recipients against severe illness and death, experts say. Photo: Felix Wong

Published: 2:23pm, 2 Aug 2021Updated: 11:11pm, 2 Aug 2021

A young Hongkonger who returned from the United States caused a stir earlier this month when he not only tested positive for Covid-19, but was also found to be highly infectious.

What made the case unusual was that the 27-year-old man was fully vaccinated in Hong Kong before his two-week trip to the US.

But medical experts insist there is no cause for alarm, with Professor David Hui Shu-cheong of Chinese University saying it was thanks to Hong Kong’s tough quarantine and contact-tracing regime that there had been no outbreak so far from the case.

Experts said the man’s increased infectiousness was due to the fast-spreading, highly transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus, and emphasised that vaccines helped mainly to protect against severe illness and death.

On Friday, US media reported an internal document from the Centres for Disease Control and Protection which said the Delta variant left vaccinated and unvaccinated people with “similarly high” viral loads, warning that the variant was as contagious as chickenpox.

Over the weekend, Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, a leading microbiologist and government pandemic adviser, said new information had emerged showing the Delta variant could lead to more vaccinated people spreading the virus under the radar.

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