Matthew Cheung Warns Of Rebound In Covid-19 Cases

The Chief Secretary, Matthew Cheung, has warned on Sunday that the number of Covid-19 cases could rebound again after the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Writing in his weekly blog, Cheung said even though there's been a decline in cases recently, the speed of the drop has been slow.

He said it's worrying to see groups of people holding parties at home and foreign domestic workers gathering on the streets, and urged people to remain extremely vigilant.

The chief secretary added that the government is doing all it can to arrange for coronavirus vaccines to arrive in the SAR as soon as possible.

He urged people to take the jabs once they're available so that Hong Kong can “get started again”.

His comment was echoed by the financial secretary, Paul Chan, who said he believes the SAR's economy will return to growth for 2021 once Covid-19 is reined in.

Chan noted in his blog that the economy is expected to remain in the doldrums in the first half of the year because some industries have been hit hard and it will take time for them to recover.

But as Covid vaccines become available and more people are inoculated, he believes the economy will pick up speed in the second half of the year.

However, the financial chief warned that issues such as Sino-US tensions may undermine the strength of the rebound, adding the government will continue to adopt a prudent fiscal approach.