Coronavirus: Hong Kong should drop flight suspension rule as quarantine measures enough to reduce transmission risks, expert says, while cases fall to three-month low
- Professor David Hui cites sufficient hotel facilities and waning wave of local infections
- City logs 300 Covid-19 infections, its lowest daily caseload since February 4
Hong Kong’s flight suspension mechanism should be scrapped as current quarantine measures are enough to reduce the risk of Covid-19 spreading in the community, a government pandemic adviser has said, as the number of new cases fell to a three-month low.
But Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch, warned on Sunday a rebound in infections was possible following the easing of social-distancing curbs that had been in place for months, especially the end to the ban on international travellers.
“The caseload has been decreasing since the peak in early March to 300 today, but we still have to observe [the situation], as we have been slowly releasing the social-distancing measures,” Chuang said. “The increase in [the flow of people] and gatherings may cause a rebound in cases.”
Health officials reported 300 Covid-19 infections on Sunday, 22 of which were imported, and five deaths related to the virus. The latest cases were the fewest since February 4, when 131 were recorded.
According to Dr Lau Ka-hin, a chief manager of Hospital Authority, a total of 1,339 patients were still receiving treatment in public hospitals and other medical facilities. Five of them were in critical condition.
Hong Kong finally reopened to foreigners on Sunday after being cut off from most of the world for more than two years due to the government’s tough pandemic curbs. But all arrivals will have to be quarantined at a hotel for a week.
Government pandemic adviser Professor David Hui Shu-cheong said on Sunday that even if Omicron outbreaks were still prevalent around the world, imported cases from other countries did not pose a serious threat locally.