Implement Work From Home Urgently, Says Expert

A health expert says the government and businesses should allow more people to work from home, warning the authorities should act fast to “to put off the fire before it spreads” as coronavirus cases continue to spike sharply in Hong Kong.

The chairman of the Medical Association's advisory committee on communicable diseases, Doctor Leung Chi-chiu, said on Friday that the virus has infiltrated neighbourhoods like Kowloon east, and the authorities should act fast to control the situation.

“The most efficient means is for most of the residents there to try to stay home as much as possible. I think this is the quickest way and surest way of decreasing the transmission within that area,” he said.

“We are also having a lot of other screening exercises, I think these exercises should give priority to residents in these areas as soon as possible, so as to put off the fire before it spreads,” the expert said.

Tsz Wan Shan Shopping Centre in Kowloon is undertaking a deep cleansing and its operator, Link Reit, said the mall would be closed on Friday and Saturday.

Leung said it's good for some malls and wet markets to close for deep cleaning, but not sufficient to keep the infection under check.

Meanwhile the chairman of Hong Kong Federation of Civil Service Unions, Leung Chau-ting, also urged the government to let civil servants work from home to prevent the outbreak from spreading further.

The Civil Service Bureau said last night it had told departments they could let staff work from home as long as public services wouldn't be affected, but Leung said various departments might not have a clear idea when to let staff work remotely.

He said one-third of public officers could work from home while essential services like licence registration should be maintained.