Health Secretary Sophia Chan Siu-chee is at best an armchair general in the war against the Covid pandemic.

Disagree? Then look at the recent spate of blunders involving the administration's contingency response that is supposed to be supervised by the health bureau.

First, a 62-year-old woman with a history of diabetes and hypertension was left to die at home after she was told to self-isolate without external support while waiting to be sent to quarantine to ascertain her condition.

Her daughter had tested positive to the coronavirus and contacted her mother by phone from the isolation ward in AsiaWorld Expo.

Then, a patient surprisingly sneaked out of an isolation ward of Queen Elizabeth Hospital for the weekend before he was found and taken back to the hospital.

But the most talked-about case of all is that of staunch police supporter Leticia Lee See-yin.

Her sudden death not only rang alarm bells within the pro-government "blue" sector - of which she was one of the most active members - but also raised a barrage of questions about the workflow of Covid testing, which is overseen by Chan's office.

Lee was found to have coronavirus after she died, and it is outrageous that her husband had to wait before he was taken to quarantine, where he tested positive for the virus.

Even prior to these high-profile blunders, there were regular reports of people having to wait for many days before the authorities were able to spare the manpower to pick them up at home and transport them to quarantine facilities.

Such incidents of delay are a mockery of what is supposed to be an emergency response, particularly bearing in mind that the small size of Hong Kong homes makes the wait all the more urgent.

Surely the health secretary knows that living in crowded conditions is a high risk factor for spreading the disease?

There is obviously a dangerous gap in the contingency response the authority should have put together by this advanced stage of the pandemic.

In light of the blunders, I am concerned that the vaccination program could be chaotic when it is actually launched on the largest possible scale.

Such a massive exercise requires elaborate logistical support, but can the administration live up to expectations?

Lee's best friend, lawmaker Priscilla Leung Mei-fun, will not be the last person to make noises about her death if Chan is unable to improve the emergence response - surely, more intense rhetoric can be expected.

Frontline staff should not be blamed for the gap because they are not responsible for making policies.

After reviewing the workflow, the Centre for Health Protection's Chuang Shuk-kwan - still recovering from the loss of her husband - said the aim now is to send close contacts to quarantine within 24 hours.

Such a public undertaking is way more credible than Chan's call for frontline workers to inform her if they are stretched -it is already patently obvious that the manpower is stretched.

Her call was without substance. Leticia Lee
and her husband Tse Shing-chun.

Leticia Lee and her husband Tse Shing-chun.

Blunders raise vaccine-rollout fears