He warned parents of a higher chance of children suffering from multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) following Covid-19 recovery.

“The number of MIS-C cases reported in Hong Kong has significantly increased recently due to a rise in Covid-19 infections,” he said.

“Many MIS-C patients require treatment in intensive care units … Long-term health effects may also occur.”

The condition causes inflammation of the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes or gastrointestinal organs, among others, appearing three to four weeks following the end of a coronavirus infection.

Ip agreed that campuses should still reopen for classes for the sake of students’ academic performance and mental health, urging parents to ensure their children were inoculated.

“Vaccination against Covid-19 is effective in reducing the chance of MIS-C by 90 per cent. Most cases are preventable if children have been vaccinated,” Ip told a radio programme.

According to the expert, 15 children in the city had suffered from MIS-C over the past two to three weeks. In the United States, more than 7,000 children had been diagnosed with MIS-C, with 66 dying, Ip added.

“Although [the fifth Covid-19 wave in Hong Kong] has been gradually subsiding, parents are putting children at risk as the vaccination rate among kindergarten pupils remains low at less than 50 per cent,” he said, noting vaccination was also effective in preventing deaths and complications among children infected with Covid-19.

‘More Hong Kong children suffering from inflammation after recovering from Covid-19’

As of Sunday, 34.1 per cent of children in Hong Kong aged between three and 11 had been inoculated with at least two vaccine doses. More than 60 per cent of the age group had taken their first shot.

Ip said health experts and education authorities had organised talks to explain the need for vaccines to parents. He also urged schools to arrange outreach vaccination programmes on campus.

Under the new policy to resume in-person classes on Tuesday, all students and teachers are required to take a daily rapid antigen test (RAT) for entry. Full-day lessons will only be allowed if 90 per cent of a school’s student population or an individual class is fully inoculated with two jabs.

Ip backed the “absolutely effective” screening arrangements, encouraging parents to also test themselves regularly.

What Hong Kong parents need to know about vaccinating children aged 5 to 11

On the same radio programme, Professor Ivan Hung Fan-ngai, an infectious disease expert from the University of Hong Kong, said he expected a small rebound in cases following the Easter holiday as more people went out. But he noted the risk was not high as many people had gained natural protection after recovery.

Hung said he believed the number of cases would continue to decline, falling to 100 infections daily, but admitted it might be hard to attain a zero-Covid approach as Omicron was highly transmissible.

“We do not need to be too worried if we have a high vaccination rate and enough infection control measures,” he said.

The city’s overall Covid-19 tally since the pandemic began stood at 1,198,438 with 9,159 fatalities.

Will extending jabs to younger Hong Kong children allow city to live with Covid-19?

Despite the downtrend in cases, Dr Albert Au Ka-wing of the Centre for Health Protection said a figure of about 600 to 700 infections a day was still considered high.

“[Monday] is the last day of the long holiday. We will closely monitor, as we have noticed that there have been more people on the streets during the holiday,” Au said. “We expect there could be a small rebound [in infections].”

He added that the daily number of new cases could be maintained at three digits in the near future.

03:14

What you need to know as Hong Kong gets set to ease Covid-19 restrictions from April 21

What you need to know as Hong Kong gets set to ease Covid-19 restrictions from April 21

Thirteen of the new cases reported on Monday were imported, including a 10-year-old girl whose positive status was identified on her 12th day in the city after returning from Canada. But the health authorities said they believed she was a re-positive case as her viral level was very low, suggesting her infection was not highly transmissive.

In other developments, Turkish Airlines and Malaysia Airlines have been banned from operating passenger flights to Hong Kong from Tuesday until next Monday. The number of passengers who tested positive for Covid-19 at the airport or violated disease prevention and control regulations reached the threshold for temporary flight bans.

The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department prosecuted 13 catering premises in an operation on Sunday for non-compliance of anti-epidemic measures, over matters such as mask-wearing and the distance or partitions between tables.

In a statement on Monday, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department clarified that the chance of invoking a recently amended law which requires pet owners to hand over their animals that were suspected to carry an infectious disease to the government, would be “not high”.

The department said that except for a small number of species, such as minks and hamsters, currently there was no evidence to show that infected animals including cats and dogs would transmit the coronavirus to humans, so people were unlikely to catch the virus from their pets.

Meanwhile, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced it would open 60 more “inclusive parks” for pets from Thursday, when social-distancing measures are set to be eased, bringing the total number of such facilities to more than 100.

About 20 of the venues are located on promenades or near harbourfront areas. Others are mainly situated in parks and rest gardens. The department said the aim of such facilities was to “promote exchanges and integration in the community”.

It urged dog owners to keep their pets on a leash in the parks and ensure the animals were kept under proper control.