New Wave Of Covid Infections Hitting HK, Says Expert

An infectious disease expert said on Friday that a fourth wave of Covid-19 infections has arrived in Hong Kong with a surge in untraceable cases.

Of the 20 or so preliminary positive cases announced by the Centre for Health Protection on Thursday, around half may involve unknown sources of infection, said Dr Joseph Tsang from the Hong Kong Medical Association.

Tsang said that previously, only around 20 percent of infections could not be traced.

"They are spread across different sectors and districts... proving that the community has quite a number of silent transmission links so as to cause that to happen," Tsang said on RTHK's Millennium programme.

The doctor warned that people should now be prepared for another wave of infections and should cut back any unnecessary gatherings.

He also said that the SAR government will have to roll out further "spicy" social distancing measures if the current restrictions aren't effective.

Tsang added that he is also worried about the authorities' workload when it comes to testing and contact-tracing, given that there have also been outbreaks of upper respiratory tract infections in schools and kindergartens.

He said the authorities ought to consider whether face-to-face classes at primary schools should be suspended, with kindergartens already closed due to the outbreaks.

Speaking on the same radio programme as Tsang, a representative of a hotel workers' union accused the government of passing the buck over infections linked to hotels.

Alex Tsui, the chairman of the Hong Kong Hotel Employees Union, said many places are already short of manpower with staff on unpaid leave and they would not be able to police a proposed ban on large gatherings in hotel rooms.