'Lockdown Only Needed If Hundreds Fall Ill Per Day'

Executive councillor and medical doctor Lam Ching-choi says he thinks the government should only consider bringing in stricter pandemic measures, such as curfews or a complete lockdown, if Hong Kong starts seeing several hundred new Covid-19 infections day after day.

"It all depends on the velocity of the number of cases growing in the past few days and, while we look at the statistics, we are still going on the track of linear growth, it's not exponential," Lam said in an interview with RTHK's Candice Wong.

"That means the reproductive number is roughly around two and, actually, it's not as severe as before and there are some signs showing that the social distancing measures imposed last week are starting to have some effect," he said.

The basic reproductive number, or R Number, measures how infectious a disease is. A reproductive number of two means that each person with the disease typically infects two people. A number below one means the disease is under control. On Tuesday, Hong Kong reported 61 new Covid-19 cases, with 58 being transmitted locally.

Lam says he thinks medical facilities are still able to cope with the ongoing outbreaks.

"I think we still have the capacity," he said. "For example, we're still admitting asymptomatic patients into our isolation wards."

Lam also said there was sufficient equipment, such as respirators, to treat patients needing critical care.

Meanwhile a meeting of Exco on Wednesday is expected to discuss proposals requiring people to wear masks in indoor public places. Lam said he didn't have any details on this but that he expected most people to comply as long as the government sends out a very clear message.