HK warned virus is out of control, 100 infections a day predicted

Leading health experts warned today that the coronavirus situation has already gone "a bit out of control" in Hong Kong, but they differed on what steps should be taken to lessen the load on hospitals, RTHK reports.

Their warnings came as the number of cases in the city zoomed to 641 by Sunday from just over 350 on last Monday.

Microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung said he believes that the public has recently started becoming lax about personal hygiene, which has caused the situation to go out of control.

The University of Hong Kong professor said the most important thing to do now is to stop the spread in the community. However, as the number of tests done on suspected cases with mild symptoms, the threat of community clusters loom large, he warned.

Yuen said authorities should consider sending some patients with mild symptoms to regular wards that are being turned into isolation units or move them to quarantine centres

He said some may even be allowed to recover at their homes as the hospitals have to make room for new cases.

But head of Hong Kong university's Centre for Infection, Ho Pak-leung was against sending patients home, saying such a step would spread infections in apartment buildings.

Ho said sending patients home before they have recovered fully would be very dangerous.

Ho said moving patients in a stable situation out of hospitals could be a way to free up spaces, but they should be sent to quarantine centres.

This will make sure that these people who are still infected won’t go anywhere else in the city, he said.

Ho also urged authorities to act tough with its new social distancing measures with "zero tolerance", saying Hong Kong is out of time and authorities can not to give just warnings to offenders.

He said it's possible that the city could soon record over 100 cases in a day.