'Covid Situation May Rebound After Easter Break'

Infectious diseases experts on Monday warned of a rebound in coronavirus cases after the Easter holidays, saying social activity and gatherings over the break would have increased the chance of the virus spreading.

Speaking on an RTHK programme, Dr Leung Chi-chiu said there were five Covid cases with no identifiable source of transmission over the past week, and five unlinked cases the week before, showing that the virus situation had simply plateaued.

He accused the government of sending out the wrong message by easing some social distancing measures prior to the break, such as reopening beaches and swimming pools, and easing capacity restrictions at cinemas and theme parks.

Leung urged the government to step up testing after the holidays, adding that people should get tested as soon as possible if they had any symptoms or had engaged in high-risk social activities during the break.

Leung also warned that there was an increasing risk that mutant variants could spread in the SAR, saying most of the city’s recent Covid infections were imported cases.

He said the government should review whether to continue letting travellers from high-risk places enter Hong Kong, and whether to temporarily put a bar foreign domestic helpers.

He added that the government should test airport staff, and workers in the hotel and transport industry once a week.

Meanwhile, microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung said he believed the low numbers of infections during the Easter holidays were under-reported as doctors may have been on vacation and many people prefer not to see the doctor during the break. He said there were still silent chains of transmission in the community.

The University of Hong Kong professor, who advises the government on the pandemic, said it would not be surprising if the number of cases rose again after the holidays as many people had gone out onto the streets, and had visited restaurants, beaches and theme parks.

He said, while he understands that many industries are having a hard time and that a lot of people were unemployed, the city could only fully ease its infection control measures once it had achieved zero infections for 28 consecutive days, otherwise the virus situation could easily bounce back.