Coronavirus: 2.5 million Hongkongers infected, daily caseload expected to dip under 1,000 in coming weeks – top government adviser
- HKU’s Professor Yuen Kwok-yung urges residents to get vaccinated and brace for future waves as ‘eradication of the virus will not happen’
- He also suggests city could consider easing travel restrictions, with imported cases far below that in the community
About 2.5 million Hongkongers may have already been infected with Covid-19, with the daily caseload likely to drop to fewer than 1,000 in the coming weeks, a top government adviser has said.
Professor Yuen Kwok-yung from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) also suggested on Sunday that the city could consider easing travel restrictions, with community cases outstripping imported ones.
He warned that “eradication of the virus will not happen”, urging residents to get vaccinated to brace for future waves of infections.
Based on Covid-19 numbers among staff of the Hospital Authority and civil service, Yuen estimated at least one in five people in the city had caught the virus.
“Overall there could be 1.5 million to 4 million people infected. I estimate that the figure could be around 2.5 million,” he told a radio programme.
Yuen added that the number of confirmed cases next week could fall back to about 10,000, and this could drop further to under 1,000 if residents “do not let their guard down”.
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A team of HKU academics previously estimated that the fifth wave had peaked on March 4 and the actual number of infections stood at some 3.6 million by March 14, with daily cases expected to fall below 1,000 by the end of April and under 100 by the end of May.
Hong Kong logged 14,149 infections on Sunday, the fewest in three weeks, taking the overall tally to 1,047,690. Another 246 related fatalities were recorded, pushing the death toll to 5,890.
Yuen urged residents, especially the elderly, to choose the German-produced BioNTech vaccine rather than the Chinese-made Sinovac jab as the former was more effective at neutralising the Omicron coronavirus variant, yet he agreed people should have freedom of choice.
He said the city should achieve a full vaccination rate of at least 95 per cent to prepare for another possible wave of infections.
“The eradication of the coronavirus will not happen. The virus will be with us, and there may be another mutant in the future,” Yuen said, noting the city’s so-called vaccine pass should also be expanded to cover public transport.
The vaccine pass scheme, introduced last month, is aimed at limiting the mobility of those who have not received their jabs. Only those who are vaccinated or have exemptions are allowed into government premises and 23 other types of places, including restaurants, shopping centres, wet markets and supermarkets.
Yuen also called for the easing of restrictions on restaurants, reopening of gyms and resumption of more international flights to allow vaccinated travellers and Hongkongers to come to the city.
“You can actually consider doing it [easing travel curbs] now because the cases in the community are far higher than those brought in from overseas. I do not think there is a need to wait,” he added.
Writing on her blog on Sunday, Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee said Chinese medicine had its advantages in the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of Covid-19 patients, with the government to distribute about 1 million boxes of such items to residents.
Chan also said a scheme would be launched to subsidise Chinese medicine practitioners in providing free remote consultation and medicine distribution services for patients isolating at home.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary John Lee Ka-chiu warned the community to beware of irresponsible and misleading information on social media about mainland medical teams, and to avoid “damaging the good relationship” between both sides.
“They communicate closely with the staff of the Hospital Authority,” Lee wrote on his blog on Sunday. “The two sides cooperate happily and support each other, which is a beautiful example.”
Lee said he held utmost respect for and gratitude to the mainland medical staff, citing their rich clinical experience and place among the country’s anti-epidemic elite.
State media Xinhua separately reported that the last cabin of a makeshift hospital facility in the Lok Ma Chau Loop near the border was set up on Saturday. Work would next be focused on the installation and testing of electromechanical equipment, with some 500 beds expected to be rolled out in the first phase.
