Expand Vaccine Pass, Phase Out Quarantine: Advisors

Two expert advisors for the government on Saturday suggested that Hong Kong should expand its vaccine pass scheme, while gradually relax its social distancing measures so that the population can achieve a "hybrid immunity" from inoculation and a low level of natural infection before winter.

Microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung and clinical professor Ivan Hung have made the suggestion in an article they penned with two other colleagues from the University of Hong Kong - Clinical assistant professor Siddharth Sridhar and honorary clinical associate professor David Lung.

They also suggested that the city should phase out its mandatory quarantine requirement for travellers.

"Several indicators show that Hong Kong’s Covid situation is in fact moving to endemicity," wrote the academics, pointing out that the Omicron variant has evolved to be more "flu-like" considering its potential to cause symptoms and deaths.

They called on the authorities to approve vaccines for those aged six months to three years old to further boost the population's immunisation level.

Vaccination among elderly people should also be pushed up, they suggested, through enforcing the vaccine pass requirement in places such as markets and supermarkets. At present, vaccination is compulsory at such places, but unlike at venues such as restaurants and bars, staff are not expected to check a customer's vaccination record.

"Vaccine-pass use should be maintained until another winter has passed," they said.

It is also time to further relax the social distancing curbs in place, the professors suggested, so that the population can also be protected "the background immunity" triggered by natural infection with Omicron subvariants.

"We have to admit that the social distancing measures that we have adopted in the first two years of the pandemic were not as effective during the fifth wave," they wrote, while noting that universal masking is still necessary to reduce virus exposure.

And they called for the abandoning of building lockdowns and compulsory testing, describing these measures as "expensive, disruptive and wasteful."

"They should now be abandoned because we do want a low level of virus circulation to boost our airway mucosal immunity," they said.

The experts also proposed that mandatory quarantine for travellers can be phased out.

"Our border policy should prioritize opening with the rest of the world as the mainland continues its zero covid-19 policy," they suggested.

They said the mandatory hotel quarantine for people coming from overseas can be shortened and changed to home quarantine with frequent testing - and eventually replaced by daily tests and a bracelet tracker for seven days.

But they said inbound travellers should be banned from visiting restaurants and pubs for seven days after their arrival.

Looking ahead, the academics said they expect new variants to continue to emerge after next winter, but expect the disease to be mild if the city can reach a full vaccination rate of 95 percent and a high level of hybrid immunity by then.

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