appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

SCMP Editorial

More than 20 years ago the government set up a panel of international experts to inquire into the handling of the Sars epidemic. Its report led to improvements to healthcare for infectious diseases. The Hospital Authority and the Legislative Council also held inquiries.
But the city moved on from the Covid-19 pandemic without any such inquiry. Resisting it, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said officials had been reviewing and improving their responses along the way.
So the city did not get to hear evidence from experts in the front line of the battle against Covid. However, some who might have assisted any inquiry were interviewed for the recent Post series marking five years since Hong Kong recorded its first case of Covid-19.
It was a chance to reflect on how the city might be better prepared next time it faces a public health crisis. In moving on from such a traumatic experience it is important lessons learned are not forgotten.
The city contained the virus for two years with stringent control measures, only to later record the world’s highest death rate amid a fifth wave of infection in 2022.
The authorities may now be far better prepared for an epidemic like Sars. But Covid still exposed weaknesses and inadequacies in the official strategies and responses.
Hong Kong was among the first cities to secure vaccines, yet people were hesitant to get their jabs. It also adopted some of the harshest sustained pandemic curbs worldwide under its zero-Covid policy.
As a result, the city eventually took longer than most places with strong public health systems to transition from containment of the virus to living with it assisted by vaccines and treatment.
Experts interviewed by the Post were largely confident that next time the city would do better, but said more had to be done to strengthen public confidence and community healthcare services.
Former government pandemic adviser Professor Ivan Hung Fan-ngai of the University of Hong Kong said the city would move more quickly to living with a virus if it could swiftly develop effective drugs and vaccines.
In that regard, regrettably, Hong Kong’s progress has been stalled by a lack of private funding. Thankfully, it has taken a big step towards having its own drug approval authority by opening its first clinical trial institute, located in a cross-border tech zone.
Professor Yuen Kwok-yung of HKU, a leading government adviser, agreed that the experience and infrastructure developed for Covid-19 had better prepared the city for future pandemics. The improvements included sewage testing to track spread of the virus.
“But ultimately, you still need a good vaccines and antiviral drugs,” he said. But Yuen cautioned against assuming these advancements would mean living with the virus sooner, because different viruses behaved differently.


3 stray mongrels captured after cyclist dies in suspected dog attack

Nearly 50% rise in drug seizures by Hong Kong customs in first half of year

Barristers dismiss calls for solicitors to gain senior counsel status in Hong Kong

Hong Kong school told to review arrangements after alleged Cantonese video ban

Hong Kong society

Lessons learned from pandemic can bolster response to next one

Infectious disease experts visit Wai Lee Building in Quarry Bay in February 2021. Photo: Sam Tsang

Hongkonger’s worsening eczema, food allergies fuel her doubts over Covid jabs

Eunice To has more than 40 types of food allergies which she believes were triggered by the Covid-19 jabs she received. Photo: Edmond So

Eunice To says her eczema had worsened since 2021. Photo: Handout 

Professor Philip Li, chief of rheumatology and clinical immunology at the University of Hong Kong, at Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam. Photo: Jonathan Wong

5 years after first Covid case, why can’t Hong Kong make home-grown vaccines?

Experts have said it will be ideal for a Hong Kong-designed vaccine to be produced in mainland China. Photo: Xinhua

Professor Leo Poon, a HKU virologist leading some flu vaccine development work, says Hong Kong has a strong foundation in basic science research and that means the city can do more. Photo: Sun Yeung

Will Hong Kong do better when next big public health crisis hits?

Covid-19 patients wait at a temporary holding area outside Caritas Medical Centre in Cheung Sha Wan in February 2022. Photo: Sam Tsang

Professor Yuen Kwok-yung agrees that the experience and infrastructure developed for Covid-19 has better prepared the city for future pandemics. Photo: May Tse

Laboratory workers collect sewage samples in Jordan in January 2021. Photo: Nora Tam

Opinion

Post series reveals that Hong Kong has much to learn and digest from the deadly Covid-19 outbreak which wreaked havoc on the city


Post series reveals that Hong Kong has much to learn and digest from the deadly Covid-19 outbreak which wreaked havoc on the city.


Coronavirus Hong Kong

Coronavirus vaccine

Hong Kong healthcare and hospitals

Disease

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

Editorial

Lessons learned from pandemic can bolster response to next one

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Post series reveals that Hong Kong has much to learn and digest from the deadly Covid-19 outbreak which wreaked havoc on the city

Post series reveals that Hong Kong has much to learn and digest from the deadly Covid-19 outbreak which wreaked havoc on the city