Relaxing curbs could ruin travel resumption: expert

A government adviser on the pandemic on Sunday urged the administration not to relax social distancing measures yet, saying any resurgence could thrash the hopes of the SAR to resume travel with the mainland and other places.

David Hui From the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said despite a drop in number of new cases in recent days, it is too early to ease anti-epidemic measures further, like the cap of four diners at the same table in restaurants.

“We are only seeing sporadic cases, but unfortunately sometimes the cases are of unknown source, and this reflects there are still cases causing community transmission. So, at this stage I think it would be very difficult to relax all the social distancing measures,” he said.

“I think the government is keen to develop travel bubbles and also open the border between Hong Kong and China, so if you relax the social distancing measures at this stage, it may lead to a rebound [in infections], so I think the government needs to be more cautious,” he added.

Hui again called on the public to get vaccinated, saying it’s “not exactly ideal” that only around eight percent of eligible people in Hong Kong have been inoculated..

Meanwhile, Hui supported the government’s decision to put on hold plans to procure a third vaccine, as the Sinovac and BioNTech jabs Hong Kong has in stock are already enough to cover the entire population.

He said the government could reserve the money for second-generation vaccines with a higher efficacy against mutated virus strains.

Health Secretary Sophia Chan has earlier said that the government will postpone shipments of AstraZeneca vaccines – the third brand the SAR was procuring.

Hui also noted a 35-year-old woman developed serious allergic reaction after she received a BioNTech jab last month.

The woman was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Prince of Wales Hospital and was given two adrenaline shots.

Hui said it’s a rare case, but pointed out that statistics showed among every million people given the BioNTech vaccine, on average 4.7 people would develop serious allergic reaction.