‘Govt should consider limiting number of returnees’

A DNA specialist on Wednesday said Hong Kong could consider capping the number of people allowed to return to the city, to prevent imported coronavirus cases.

Dr Gilman Siu from the Department of Health Technology and Informatics at Polytechnic University said the situation in Hong Kong was critical, with the discovery of more cases of highly-infectious Covid variants.

He also expressed concern about the impending travel bubble with Singapore, due to start on May the 26th, saying cases in Asia were rising.

Siu added that more imported cases would be “a challenge” for quarantine hotels, which are not, he said, hospitals. Siu also pointed out that the staff at quarantine hotels are “not infection control officers”.

He said as a result it would not be surprising if the new variants “continue leaking into the community”.