Easing Of Covid Measures 'no Risk To The Community'

Infectious disease specialist Leung Chi-chiu said the government's easing of pandemic measures on Wednesday won't worsen the Covid situation in Hong Kong, and that the public should not worry.

John Lee's administration announced on Tuesday that Hong Kong's ubiquitous LeaveHomeSafe QR codes could be removed, PCR tests scaled back and quarantine wristbands abandoned, while the amber health code restrictions on incoming travellers would be lifted.

Health authorities confirmed another 13,721 new Covid cases on Tuesday - including 791 imported infections.

"The key driver for local epidemic is our local transmission. Imported cases only constitute about five percent of our total daily cases, and among them only a small percentage - less than 50 percent - are detected after testing in the airport," Leung said.

"There is nothing to worry about. The measures announced: many of them are overdue. They do not touch the key transmission chains in Hong Kong and they will not pose any risk to the local community."

But Leung said he agreed with the decision of the health authorities to maintain the vaccine pass system for restaurants and other scheduled premises. He said the Covid-19 transmission rate will go up once the pass is scrapped.

"If we cancel the vaccine pass at this stage, there could be a sudden rush of people, especially the elderly, going to all these premises especially the restaurants because they were not able to get to these catering premises in the past few months," he said.

"In that case, they could be subject to considerable transmission risk and they may also increase the pressure on our healthcare system."

However, he questioned the effectiveness of the vaccine pass in boosting inoculation against the coronavirus, saying there's been no "further progress" on this in recent months despite the "progressive tightening" of vaccine pass arrangements.

Leung urged the government to think of other alternative measures to boost the vaccination rate, especially given "the substantial cost to our economy and the community" of enforcing vaccine passes.