Entering May, Hong Kong’s epidemic situation is optimistic, and all industries are looking forward to lifting the ban on “Let’s Live!” The fifth wave of the epidemic has declined for more than a month since it peaked in mid-March. It coincides with the opening of the May 1 holiday. This newspaper analyzes the infection trend of Easter and the first week after the relaxation of the first phase of social distancing measures on the 21st of last month, and found that the new crown infection in Hong Kong The rate of infections per million people dropped sharply from 199 on the 15th of last month (the first day of Easter) to about 56 on the day before (April 29), indicating that the relaxation of measures has not seen a rebound in the epidemic. Government experts believe that after the large-scale infection of Hong Kong people, a temporary immune barrier has emerged in the society, and the public can breathe a sigh of relief. Some people in the medical field agree that there is room for Hong Kong to further “relax” the society and economy, but the government should not “lie down”, and should step up monitoring of variant viruses, improve and strengthen case tracking.
The epidemic situation in Hong Kong continues to decline. After the discussion of “clearing” and “coexistence” in the community has been tug-of-war, recently there have been differences due to relaxation of epidemic prevention and strict adherence to epidemic prevention. All sectors of society are concerned about whether the epidemic will rebound.
Infections per million drop to 55
According to the statistics of “Our World in Data”, a statistical project of Oxford University in the United Kingdom, when the first day of Easter holiday in Hong Kong was held on April 15, the 7-day average mobile infection rate per million population in Hong Kong was still about 199 people, that is, every 199 out of a million people are infected. After the next four days of holiday, the infection rate per million people did not rebound and maintained a downward trend. Afterwards, Hong Kong relaxed the first phase of social distancing measures on the 21st of last month, and the infection rate per million people continued to decline from 94.5 people infected on the first day, with the trend of the infection rate dropping by about 10 people every two days. The situation continued for about a week. The latest data on April 29 is that the infection rate has dropped to 55.59.
Looking back at the number of local infection cases, the infection rate is also slowing down. From the data of the last week or so, it can be seen that the number of confirmed cases has dropped from 510 on April 23 to 335 on April 26. Even with a slight fluctuation after that, it was only hovering between 300 and 400. Yesterday There were only 338 new cases. Compared with the 1,000 or 2,000 cases that had passed the peak in early April, the situation has improved significantly.
Liu Zexing, the convener of the government’s New Crown Vaccine Advisory and Expert Committee, attended a radio program yesterday. He also said that after the long holiday, schools have gradually resumed face-to-face classes, and the epidemic has not shown an upward trend. It is estimated that about 1.2 million people in Hong Kong have been infected with the disease. Coupled with the rise in vaccination rates, the community has temporarily established an immune barrier that can last for several months, giving citizens “a chance to breathe a sigh of relief.” He also pointed out that if the epidemic remains stable, it is also appropriate for the government to implement the second phase of relaxing social distancing measures in late May.
As for whether there will be more undercurrents in the epidemic after the relaxation? Leung Tsz-chao, a specialist in respiratory medicine in Hong Kong, pointed out that the public has been looking forward to the relaxation of social distancing measures for a long time, but they are worried that when the current epidemic situation begins to slow down, coupled with the large relaxation of external prevention and import measures, it may affect the next stage, Even measures that have now been relaxed are threatening. He also pointed out that other Omicron variant viruses are now circulating in South Africa and the United States. If these viruses are imported into Hong Kong and flow into the community, it may cause the epidemic to rebound. At that time, it is extremely reluctant to re-tighten the epidemic prevention measures.
Relaxing should not lie flat to promote enhanced tracking
Liang believes that it is not that the restrictions cannot be loosened, but that the government should not “do nothing” after the relaxation. Instead, it should strengthen the monitoring of mutant viruses, such as responding to all cases, including local infection cases, conducting rapid mutant virus screening, and reopening cases. track. The authorities should also make good use of existing resources, including requiring confirmed cases to upload their “safe travel” records for the two weeks before the diagnosis, etc., and cooperate with technologies such as artificial intelligence to identify the gathering places of confirmed cases, and then conduct case tracking to improve efficiency. There are hundreds of cases in Shizhong who raised their hands and surrendered.”
