27th May 2023 – (Hong Kong) Professor Lau Yu-lung, a government expert and chair of paediatrics professor and community child health professor at HKU, spoke on a radio program today and stated that small waves of COVID-19 cases will continue to occur in Hong Kong, as this is a characteristic of the coronavirus. However, he believes that the severity of infections will decrease over time.
Professor Lau stated that Hong Kong currently reports around 480 to 550 confirmed cases daily, with an average of around 10 new deaths per day. The new wave of COVID-19 in Hong Kong has already peaked and is currently at a high level, with the instantaneous reproduction number remaining at around 1, meaning that each infected person will infect one other person.
Dr Mike Kwan Yat–wah, a consultant at Princess Margaret Hospital’s paediatric infectious diseases unit, emphasised that unvaccinated infants are still at risk of infection. He also noted that vaccination rates for young children and the elderly in Hong Kong are still relatively low, with only 30% of young children having received vaccinations.
Experts in Hong Kong are cautiously optimistic about the future severity of COVID-19 waves in the city. While small waves may continue to occur, they predict that the severity of infections will decrease over time due to increased vaccination rates and better treatment options. However, they also caution that unvaccinated individuals, particularly infants and the elderly, remain at risk and urge the public to continue following public health guidelines and getting vaccinated to protect themselves and others from the virus.