HK's Outbreak Reaching A Plateau: Mainland Expert

A senior health official from the mainland on Thursday said it is good news that Hong Kong’s coronavirus situation is reaching a plateau, adding that when the city will see a drop in cases depends on its infection control measures.

The head of the National Health Commission's Covid-19 leading task force, Liang Wannian, said it’s obvious that an exponential rise in cases has been suppressed, as infection figures have stayed at around 40,000 to 50,000 for the past few days.

Liang and a delegation of health experts from the mainland are in Hong Kong to advise the SAR government on its coronavirus strategy.

He approved of new anti-epidemic measures introduced by the Hong Kong government, saying they can boost people’s confidence and stabilise society.

He said the SAR’s move to better triage infected people, designate Covid hospitals and focus on saving seriously ill patients can improve the quality of treatment and lower the city's Covid death rate.

Liang said measures to protect the elderly, including implementing closed-loop management at care homes and boosting vaccine take-up, can also help stabilise the Covid situation.

On a universal Covid testing exercise, Liang said he believes the SAR government will take into consideration a series of factors, including the purpose of testing, the feasibility, and an appropriate allocation of resources, before deciding when this should be done.

He said similar mass testing exercises were carried out on the mainland at the very beginning or towards the end of outbreaks.