Doctor questions if planned travel bubble is viable

A doctor from the Medical Association has described as “very ominous” the discovery of two local cases of a mutant strain of coronavirus, and questioned whether a planned travel bubble with Singapore is viable.

Alvin Chan said on Monday that Hong Kong had been too complacent in the fight against the virus, and risked following the example of Singapore, which saw an exponential rise in infections over the weekend involving a more infectious strain.

On Sunday, Singapore registered 14 new cases of locally transmitted Covid-19 infection. Of these, 11 were linked to a cluster at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) where a nurse was first found to be infected on April 27.

The Singapore Ministry of Health said that brought the total number of infections in the TTSH cluster to 27. They were among 39 new Covid-19 cases recorded on Sunday.

Chan told RTHK it was highly likely that it would be impossible for a travel bubble between the two cities to start on May 26, and he lamented the low vaccination rate in the SAR.

Chan also said the government should allow asylum seekers to be vaccinated. He also said he had empathy towards the helpers who’ve been ordered to take tests, as the two local mutated cases involved helpers, adding that the helpers’ employers should also be tested.

Separately, epidemiologist, Benjamin Cowling from the University of Hong Kong, said he didn’t see maids as being in a high-risk group.

He was commenting after the government ordered the territories 370,000 foreign domestic helpers to get tested before next Sunday, except for those who are fully vaccinated.

Cowling told RTHK the rate of infection in domestic helpers is the same as the rate for the general population.

He also says now that all adults in Hong Kong have the chance to get vaccinated, the government should allow such people to be exempt from lockdowns, quarantines and mandatory testing orders.