Opinion | For Hong Kong, the danger of resurgent Covid-19 infections is not over yet

Hong Kong remains at risk with the global pandemic raging, so any relaxing of Covid-19 restrictions must be gradual and careful, with ongoing surveillance and all sectors engaged, including businesses and civil society

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Civil servants go back to work at the government headquarters in Admiralty on May 4, as Hong Kong starts to relax Covid-19 measures. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 6:30am, 6 May 2020Updated: 6:54am, 6 May 2020

Hong Kong’s achievements in containing Covid-19 are exceptional, with no local infections for 16 days. This can be attributed to government leadership, and community participation.

This is in contrast to the relentless worldwide spread of the coronavirus, whose full scope and extent is yet to emerge. The conditions that would see the Sars-CoV-2 virus eliminated from the population appear increasingly improbable, and experts warn of a resurgence as late as 2024.

In Hong Kong, despite the threat of a fresh wave of infections, we are looking at relaxing measures that were so successful and necessary at the height of the outbreak.

The entry restrictions imposed on foreign nationals, surveillance, detection and isolation of infected people, contact tracing and quarantine of close contacts, case management and infection-control measures, personal protective measures, and social distancing were all implemented in response to the extent and intensity of Covid-19 transmissions.

The measures were anticipatory, from when there were no cases to when there were isolated cases, transiting to detection of linked clusters and finally to community transmissions. At each stage, interventions were scaled up to pre-empt the escalation of transmissions.

While Covid-19 has been contained in Hong Kong, the journey to recovery remains long and arduous, with resurgence a risk when the pandemic has yet to be contained. Our public health measures and preparedness plans need to be reassessed in light of our experience.

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