'Move To Quarantine Schoolchildren Is Too Much'

An infectious disease expert on Tuesday said it was too strict of the authorities to order around 130 students at a secondary school to be sent to a quarantine centre after two fellow pupils caught Covid-19.

Dr Wilson Lam, the vice-president of Hong Kong Society for Infectious Disease, said there was a low chance that the two infected students at Shau Kei Wan Government Secondary School had spread the virus in an examination hall earlier this month if they were wearing masks and complied with social distancing rules.

“However, if they shared some common utilities like toilets especially if those toilets have defects in terms of the ventilation or pipes... it depends on the exact situation in that school and in those utilities,” he told RTHK's Wendy Wong.

“If the Centre for Health Protection is not able to find other reasons to suspect there is limited airborne transmission in some of those areas, I think it might be a little bit strict to quarantine the students and teachers.”

Lam suggested that the authorities explain why there is a need to quarantine the students and teachers present during the examinations, saying this would allow other schools to put in place measures such as controlling the use of communal facilities, so fewer people would have to be quarantined if similar situations emerge again.

He agreed that schools should go ahead with plans to resume face-to-face classes after the Chinese New Year holiday, as the infection risk on campuses is low.