Expert Warns Of Large Rebound In Covid-19 Cases

Infectious diseases expert, Dr Leung Chi-chiu, has warned that there could be a large rebound of more than 100 local Covid-19 cases in the coming weeks amid the relaxation of some social distancing measures.

Leung, who is from the Medical Association, acknowledged that there has been fatigue among the public in fighting the epidemic, and that he noticed a lot of people have been going out since the government relaxed a number of anti-epidemic restrictions as the city's Covid-19 situation has eased.

He said that with resumption of civil servants working in offices, students resuming face-to-face classes, and the Mid-Autumn Festival next month, the next two weeks will be an important key in seeing whether there is a rebound in infections.

Leung told RTHK's Candice Wong: "If there is a major rebound, the number of cases can increase rapidly over a matter of two weeks. We may be having, again, hundreds of cases per day. So now, the most important thing is for us to try to stay home as much as possible in the coming two weeks."

He also expressed concerns that it is now taking long, about eight days on average, for authorities to confirm a new Covid-19 case with no known source of infection from the onset of symptoms.

He urged the public to minimise the number of times they go out, avoid unnecessary social gatherings and practice hygiene when taking part in any Mid-Autumn Festival activities.

Meanwhile, the senior official responsible for the universal Covid-19 testing scheme, Patrick Nip, also said the current wave of infections in Hong Kong has not "ended".

Speaking on the last day of the programme, the civil service minister said more than 1.7 million people have taken part and he expects some 10,000 more people to turn up today after having registered online.

Nip told an RTHK radio programme that so far he feels the scheme has reached the target that the government had aimed for – in that it was able to find out 26 coronavirus patients from the programme.