Stagnant Covid Tally 'not A Bad Thing'

An infectious diseases expert on Wednesday sought to allay concerns over Hong Kong's stagnant Covid situation, saying it’s “not a bad thing” that infection figures are not dropping further.

The daily Covid tally has remained at around 300 for about a month.

The director of the University of Hong Kong's Centre for Infection, Ho Pak-leung, told a Commercial Radio programme that this situation is not necessarily bad.

“Most of the people infected have been vaccinated and have no, or mild, symptoms. So it’s not a bad thing as it would increase the immunity built up in the community,” he said.

He said people do not have to worry as long as there’s no sudden and major rebound in the number of cases, adding that Hong Kong must guard against any new coronavirus variants, which could trigger another wave of infections.

But medical sector lawmaker David Lam expressed concern about the current pandemic situation, saying a sixth wave could be imminent if infection numbers do not go down further in the near future.

"The antibody generated from a prior infection begins to fall after three months, so about June, July will be the time when people begin to have a drop in their antibody levels. That is the time when people become less immune to another round of infections, especially if we have a new mutant."

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