It may take three months before fifth wave comes under control: Yuen Kwok-yung

Hong Kong may need up to three months to control the fifth wave of Covid-19 outbreak if contact tracing failed to be done properly, government advisor Yuen Kwok-yung said on Sunday.

With the outbreak at Kwai Chung Estate continuing, Yuen expected the number of infections to grow exponentially. He said it will be impossible to relax social distancing measures on February 4, the fourth day of Lunar New Year.

If health officers fail to quarantine all of those infected and track down their close contacts, it could take two or three months for the fresh outbreak to come under control, he said. It would create a huge impact on businesses.

Yuen said it is too early to say if the whole Kwai Chung Estate has to be locked down, but it is necessary to test every day residents who live in blocks where there are infections for at least five days.

Considering that a cleaner who work in all 16 blocks in the estate tested preliminary positive, the outbreak could spread to even more buildings, he warned.

As the Kwai Chung Estate cluster grows to more than 100 infections on Saturday, the SAR government still maintains the goal of eliminating all cases in communities.

Yuen said it is useless to emphasize such goal. Zero infections is not the aim, but a way to buy time for more people to get vaccinated, he said.

With the vaccination rate hovering at 70 percent, it is still impossible for the city to reopen borders or reopen premises, he said.

A vaccine bubble should be enforced as soon as possible to make sure everyone get vaccinated, so that they will not suffer from serious complications when infected by Covid-19. It will make sure the public health system won't be paralyzed by Covid-19, he said.