Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
/ KUCINTA SETIA
Image : Video Screenshot
The third wave of novel coronavirus outbreaks broke out in Hong Kong this month. More than 30% of the more than 100 confirmed daily cases are of unknown origin. The government’s anti-epidemic expert consultant and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong believes that the biggest problem of Hong Kong is the failure to stop unknown covid cases and it can take up to 8 days from the onset of the disease to the diagnosis. He recommended that the government increase its staff to trace contacts as soon as possible to cut off the chain of transmission. Regarding the ban on in-dining throughout the day, he said that looking at the photos was "desolate." He believed that the policy should be attached to the ground. Foreign countries can ban travel but Hong Kong should not follow the model. He commented, "If 7.5 million people are banned from travel, why not follow up (cases) and do more on top?"
According to the analysis of the University of Hong Kong, the basic reproduction rate of SARS-CoV-2 that reflects local infections exceeded 4 at the end of June, that is, 1 person can infect 4 people. It has continued to fall below 1 today, but today the number of confirmed cases hit a new high, reaching 149. Liang Zhuowei explained that a patient has an incubation period and testing takes time. It is expected that it will take two or three days from today for the diagnosis to have a chance to fall. Increased testing may increase the diagnosis. He pointed out that if the epidemic goes out of control, the number of diagnoses will rise geometrically but this is not the case so far.
The ban on in-dining in the night markets, which was imposed to control the third wave of the epidemic, took effect on 15 July 2020 in Hong Kong. From that day to 29 July 2020, of the 1301 local and related cases, 44.2% of them were of unknown origin. The peak on 19 July 2020 reaches. Then it gradually fell back, falling to 35.4% on 29 July. Liang Zhuowei believes that the biggest problem now is the failure to stop cases of unknown origin. Although the proportion of cases of unknown origin has dropped from 60% to about 30 to 40%, "it (the virus) has been a good and bad guy for many years," "There will always be those transmission chains that cannot be intercepted, naturally cannot be isolated, and naturally viral transmission continued”.
Liang Zhuowei also said that there are only three measures to prevent the epidemic: border defense, social distancing, and detection and tracking. The first two are almost exhausted in Hong Kong yet social distancing cannot be exhausted. He questioned, "Unless you ban venturing out or travel and if you are not allowed to go out to the streets, can you imagine what will happen?" He praised the Hong Kong people for fighting the epidemic and they are worthy of respect.
Source : Ming Pao
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