Hong Kong will chart its own path out of the coronavirus pandemic, its leader has said, emphasising no “one size fits all” approach exists as regional rival Singapore announced a broad easing of restrictions. As Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor was providing an update on efforts to contain the fifth wave of infections on Thursday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong revealed an outdoor mask mandate would be axed, fully vaccinated travellers could enter the country quarantine-free and his government was working towards a full resumption of air and land travel with neighbouring Malaysia. Lee described the moves as a signal Singapore was moving closer to living with Covid-19, a strategy sharply at odds with Hong Kong’s insistence on “dynamic-zero” infections. Hong Kong recorded 13,074 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, including 7,342 logged online by residents using rapid antigen tests (RAT). Another 201 deaths related to the virus were reported, including 42 backlogged ones. The city’s tally of confirmed cases stood at 1,101,224, with 6,770 deaths since the start of the pandemic. When asked whether she would follow Singapore’s lead, Lam said the question was “not very meaningful” and her government would “adjust and do whatever is in the best interest” of Hong Kong. “As I’ve also said on many occasions, the policies and measures to be adopted by each government in combating the Covid-19 epidemic will differ. I don’t think that there’s one size that fits all. I also don’t believe that there are only two pathways,” she said. “That’s why I said that perhaps it’s not very meaningful to ask us to choose whether we’re going for route A or route B.” As for whether Singapore had snatched the crown as “Asia’s global hub”, Lam argued Hong Kong remained an attractive financial centre and aviation base, as well as “a good place to live and work”. Authorities would preserve its international connectivity and its crucial access to mainland China in a “pragmatic manner”, she added. “The best interest of Hong Kong is to do both, to maintain our connectivity with the rest of the world through the aviation side, and at the same time, also continue to perform the role of Hong Kong being the basis for businesses and individuals to access the mainland market,” she said. “I remain very optimistic that once this wave subsides, we’ll pick up on the earlier discussions [on reopening the mainland border], and at the same time we’ll be able to open up to the rest of the world.” All you need to know about Singapore’s ‘decisive’ move to live with Covid Earlier this week, Lam announced a road map for easing the city’s strict anti-pandemic regulations after previously acknowledging waning public tolerance for the rules. The plan involved lifting a flight ban on nine countries on April 1 and cutting in half the two-week mandatory stay at a quarantine hotel for arrivals, provided they return a series of negative test results. Social-distancing measures will also be relaxed in stages over a period of three months starting from April 21, so long as infections do not rebound. In the first phase, some businesses and venues that were forced to close under epidemic-control rules, such as gyms, beauty parlours and places of worship, will be allowed to reopen, while restaurants can offer dine-in service later and host more customers. But officials have repeatedly refused to say they are abandoning the mainland’s preferred “dynamic-zero” infection approach in favour of living with the virus. Government pandemic adviser Professor Yuen Kwok-yung said every government would modify its pandemic-control strategy according to the global situation, and he believed the mainland would also change accordingly. “We do not need to worry about the border opening with the mainland as long as we have done our best to reduce the number of cases,” Yuen said. In a previous interview with the Post , top mainland epidemiologist Dr Liang Wannian, who is advising the local government, said the ultimate aim of the “dynamic-zero” strategy was to strike a precise balance between maintaining Hong Kong’s stability and economic status, while still controlling the virus. Meanwhile, Lam on Thursday also pledged to step up the use of traditional Chinese medicine in treating Covid-19 patients, revealing she had asked Beijing to send a team of experts to offer “good advice on how to prevent infections … and reduce severe cases” of Covid-19. “They can also help in stabilising the condition of patients following recovery,” she added. Hospital Authority chief executive Dr Tony Ko Pat-sing said Chinese medicine practitioners were addressing symptoms of chronic illnesses commonly seen among elderly patients being treated at the AsiaWorld-Expo temporary facility. Citing experiences from Zhang Zhongde, a top traditional Chinese medicine expert from the mainland who is assisting in Hong Kong, Ko said the treatments were useful in alleviating some Covid-19 symptoms, such as coughing and dry throat, as well as constipation, poor appetite and fatigue. In general, he said, collaboration at AsiaWorld-Expo between medical teams from Hong Kong and the mainland had been smooth. The 400 healthcare professionals seconded to the city by Beijing had increased the number of patients they served by 44 per cent, going from about 250 to 360. Ko also revealed that the number of patients waiting 12 hours or more to be admitted to accident and emergency departments had fallen from between 1,000 and 2,000 people to fewer than 100 as of Thursday morning. No ‘crystal ball’ to predict date of Covid mass testing, Hong Kong leader says Lam, meanwhile, said that she had been told during a Wednesday meeting with mainland experts currently in Hong Kong that some weak points in the city’s pandemic-control measures remained. “Every day we still have around 200 deaths. The proportion of elderly patients in hospitals is still high, and the risk of having critical cases is also high,” she said, adding that the proportion who had received two vaccine doses was still too low and infections continued to crop up in care homes. “Those experts asked us not to let down our guard.” On the advice of mainland experts, Hong Kong recently shifted its anti-pandemic focus to the “three reductions” and “one priority”. The strategy involves an emphasis on cutting down on infections and severe cases and deaths, while also prioritising the treatment of elderly patients. Towards that end, two oral antiviral drugs shown to reduce the likelihood of severe illness and death, molnupiravir from MSD and Paxlovid from Pfizer, were now being administered to Covid-19 patients in public hospitals, designated clinics and care homes for the elderly. Private hospitals treating Covid-19 patients will also have access to the medication. Ko said that as of Wednesday, the two drugs had been prescribed to more than 15,000 patients. The Social Welfare Department revealed it was planning to provide outreach services for administering the German-made BioNTech vaccine at homes for the elderly in a bid to provide greater convenience. Since July last year, outreach service at care homes only offered the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine and residents hoping for the alternative had to go to community vaccination centres. Lam also clarified the government had no plans to extend the “vaccine pass” scheme, which restricts access to premises such restaurants, supermarkets and shopping malls, to public hospitals. Yuen agreed that people should not be prevented from seeking treatment at accident and emergency departments, but he said schools and public transport should be covered by the pass. He added it would take a few months to see the effectiveness of the pass in raising the vaccination rate because many people were already infected at this stage. Meanwhile, the Centre of Health Protection identified a case of a person who was suspected of intentionally submitting false RAT results and forwarded the details to police for investigation. It added that 11,992 people who had reported their positive RAT results to the government were selected to undergo random polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing. But 170 of them tested negative using PCR screening and were sent to the Penny’s Bay community isolation facility for further observation. Elsewhere in the city, a new community isolation facility built with help from the mainland was handed over to authorities. The centre in Yuen Long is the sixth such facility delivered by the mainland team within a month and provides 2,000 rooms. Additional reporting by Joyce Ng