Omicron: health experts urge government to tackle gaps in pandemic strategy as daily cases soar to near record highs in Hong Kong

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of communicable disease branch at Centre for Health Protection, warns city should brace for hundreds of more cases

One expert says Hong Kong must improve its detection of untraceable cases, while another says government should stockpile treatments

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Authorities conduct a round of compulsory testing at Shek Yam East Estate on Wednesday night. Photo: Handout

Published: 12:05pm, 3 Feb 2022Updated: 11:04pm, 3 Feb 2022

The government must tackle gaps in its Covid-19 strategy, stockpile more medicine and better allocate resources or run the risk of Hong Kong being overwhelmed by a new expected wave of infections, health experts have warned, as the daily number of confirmed and suspected cases approached record highs.

The ability of authorities to carry out contact tracing urgently needed to be expanded as clusters continued to mushroom across the city and more test kits should be distributed in the community, they said on Thursday.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, the head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, maintained that the current screening capacity was sufficient but agreed an onslaught of infections should be expected following the Lunar New Year festival that was a traditional time for family reunions.

Some experts have suggested the government could do a better job of encouraging people to get vaccinated. Photo: Jelly Tse

Her grim assessment was borne out by the 142 new confirmed cases and roughly 160 preliminary-positive ones reported on Thursday.

“We are worried because we may see hundreds or more cases as the Omicron variant is more transmissible. It poses a huge burden on the health care system,” Chuang said. “We have also seen some airborne transmission reported from some family gatherings, and we urge people to stay at home.”

The latest Covid-19 figure was close to the previous record of 164 infections recorded on January 27. According to health authorities, 121 of the new cases were local and 21 imported, with 31 listed as untraceable. The city’s overall coronavirus tally stands at 14,584 infections, with 213 related deaths.

Among the newly infected was Deputy Commissioner of Labour (Occupational Safety and Health) Jeff Leung Wing-yan, the government said. He is the first senior government official to fall ill with the coronavirus.