'Choose Covid route now' advice rebuffed

Now is not the time for Hong Kong to decide between the "dynamic zero" approach or to treat Covid as an endemic disease as the priority is to protect lives and contain the fifth wave, says Chief Executive Carrie Lam.

Her comments came after her Covid adviser, Gabriel Leung, dean of the University of Hong Kong's Faculty of Medicine, said the city should decide on a route as soon as possible because a sixth wave could arrive in June.

Asked about Leung's remarks, Lam said: "Our anti-epidemic efforts are not about choosing between the two routes.

"It's clear that our target for anti-epidemic work is consistent with the nation's, which is to put protecting people's lives as the top priority, as well as public health, so we must contain outbreaks as quickly as possible and let society return to a normal status.

"We want to pay the smallest price in achieving the biggest effect as well as minimizing the epidemic's impact on our socio-economic development," she said.

Lam said she reviews the mathematical modeling results from Leung and his HKU team every week but she cannot design policies based merely on academic estimations.

"The reality is much more complex because every policy made by the government will affect more than seven million people and lots of businesses," she said. "I've told experts that we take reference to their advice, but we can't exactly do what they say."

Lam said she does not want the sixth wave to arrive soon, but the government is doing everything to brace the city for that.

"If a new wave, or a new variant emerges, we must be more prepared for it than today," she said. "We won't give up on strengthening our capability, surveillance and analyses just because the fifth wave seems stabilized, or is beginning to go subside.

"The spirit for fighting against the epidemic is to pay continuous efforts, be determined, not to 'lie flat' or take chances."

Health authorities from Tuesday resumed the issuance of compulsory test notices to residents of buildings with outbreaks - and they only accept PCR tests, not rapid antigen tests.

The Centre for Health Protection's controller, Edwin Tsui Lok-kin, said the 10 buildings slapped with notices on Tuesday have each seen more than 50 infections over the past few days.

jane.cheung@singtaonewscorp.com