Govt Urged To Bring Back Curbs As More Cases Surface

A health expert is calling for reimposition of social distancing restrictions as sources told RTHK that around a dozen more coronavirus infections have been recorded in Hong Kong.

RTHK understands that the new cases involve more residents at an elderly care home, taxi drivers and people linked to restaurants where some staff and customers had already come down with the disease recently

Health authorities on Wednesday had warned that there is a new wave of Covid-19 cases in the city and said they fear a wide community outbreak after cases emerged in different areas of the city on Wednesday.

Infectious disease expert from the University of Hong Kong Ho Pak-leung urged the government to act promptly and put in place strict measures, including social distancing restrictions that were introduced a few months ago.

Speaking to an RTHK radio programme, Ho said that the Covid-19 situation has returned to what it was in March around the height of the second wave.

He said that a total of 30 people have been confirmed to have the virus in the past few days, involving at least three groups of people, of which at least 10 were of unknown origin.

He reminded people to stay vigilant and avoid taking part in “high-risk” activities with large crowds of people and maintain social distancing.

The health expert reminded people to order takeaways instead of dining out and to disinfect seatbelts and buckles when getting into a taxi and lower the windows on both sides to allow air to circulate.

Ho said there was a good chance the source of the recent outbreak is from loopholes in the system like quarantine exemptions for some groups.

He said the situation poses a great challenge for the city’s care homes and the elderly as those places are normally very overcroweded, and experience or reports from overseas show that the infection rate in care homes is quite high.