Call grows to end 'little help' circuit breaker

More health experts and the tourism industry have added their voices to the call for the government to cancel the flight circuit breaker as the fifth wave has subsided and Hong Kong has developed a natural herd immunity.

University of Hong Kong microbiologist Ho Pak-leung said the flight-suspension mechanism is not conducive to Hong Kong returning to normal and the measure has "only helped a little" in preventing imported cases.

Epidemiologist Benjamin Cowling, also from HKU, pushed for travel restrictions to be lifted as they can hardly prevent new variants from entering the city.

Their remarks come a day after HKU professor Ivan Hung Fan-ngai, a pandemic adviser, said over four million people - more than half of Hong Kong's 7.4 million population - have already been infected and so the city has developed herd immunity.

On a radio program yesterday, Hung said most patients in the city are carrying the Omicron BA2 variant and that the flight suspension is meaningless unless there are new variants.

The risk of imported cases bringing the virus to the community is low as long as arrivals undergo tests and hotel quarantine as required, he said.

Hung believes there is a slim chance for the pandemic to rebound as Hong Kong has a high vaccination rate.

Ho called on the government to suspend the circuit-breaker after further boosting the vaccination rate and speeding up the implementation of the vaccine pass.

But, Ho noted, if the city sees more severe cases or new variants are found overseas, the government should resume the flight suspension.

Cowling, for his part, said: "The one thing I've heard about as a reason for keeping travel measures in place is keeping, maybe, new variants out of Hong Kong.

"We've had BA2, there's now BA4, BA5 in some other parts of the world, maybe there'll be something else in the future. But we have to recognize that the travel restrictions won't stop new variants from getting into Hong Kong.

"Look at what happened with the fifth wave: BA2 got into the city pretty quickly and it wasn't even the first opportunity that it had."

The travel and business sectors, meanwhile, welcomed the move to allow overseas visitors to enter Hong Kong from Sunday.

Tourism sector lawmaker Perry Yiu Pak-leung said lifting the entry ban for foreign travelers is a good sign to show the world that the pandemic in Hong Kong is under control.

Yiu said more business travelers will head to Hong Kong, supporting the hotel and aviation industries.

But "not too many tourists will come" as they still have to undergo a seven-day hotel quarantine.

Yiu said quarantine hotel rooms are almost fully booked in May and June, adding he will see if the number could be increased.

Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong president Allen Shi Lop-tak said the lifting of the entry ban will also benefit the financial and IT sectors, which need overseas talents.

Cathay Pacific's latest schedule shows a nearly threefold increase in the number of flights from London to Hong Kong in June, with daily service starting from June 7.

There will be three flights on June 7, 17 and 27.

The previous schedule showed less than 10 flights from London to Hong Kong in June.

Hong Kong yesterday recorded 431 new cases, including 242 confirmed through PCR tests and 189 through rapid tests.

Health authorities recorded 18 deaths aged 59 to 95, including six from care homes.

So far in the fifth wave, 8,985 patients have died at public hospitals.

There were 16 imported fresh cases, including a Nepali woman who tested positive on day 12 after arriving on April 12. She has gone home for self-medical surveillance after a seven-day quarantine at a hotel. She lives alone and does not have any close contact.

And the Yuet Wu Villa Block 13 in Tuen Mun and Cypress House at Kwong Yuen Estate in Sha Tin were locked down yesterday.

wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com