Too Late For Yau Ma Tei Lockdown Now: Expert

An infectious disease expert on Friday urged the government to expand the scope of mandatory coronavirus tests in Yau Ma Tei, but rejected suggestions that residents should be made to stay at home until they get a negative result.

Leung Chi-chiu made the remark amid reports that authorities are planning to seal-off part of Yau Ma Tei over the weekend, following a surge in Covid-19 cases there.

Sources said the plan is to allow residents to leave their homes, or the area around them, only if they can present evidence of a negative test result.

There has already been mass testing in part of the district for residents of blocks where a single Covid case has been recorded, or in some instances, even when there have been no infections found.

Leung told an RTHK programme that being as so many people in the area have been tested, there would be no point in imposing stay-at-home orders and such a move would not be cost-effective.

He also noted that more infections have recently been confirmed outside the original hotspot zone than within it, so it would make more sense to expand the area covered by the stricter-than-usual compulsory testing.

"There is no point in sealing off the designated area now, as most people there have been tested. So even if one or two [infected residents there] were not detected, the risk of spreading to the whole of Hong Kong is low," he said.

"But if you are able to contain the virus at other areas in Yau Tsim Mong district, it'd be more effective in the overall infection control. If you only see the trees but not the forest, how can you put out this big fire?"

Leung said authorities should encourage residents in the area to get tested more than once, or if they experience symptoms, and at the same time improve the hygiene conditions there.