New Covid prevention drug arrives in HK

The Hospital Authority (HA) on Saturday said the first batch of a new Covid prevention drug has arrived in Hong Kong and they will be given to immunocompromised patients, such as those who have had organ transplants.

The monoclonal antibody drug Evusheld, made by AstraZeneca, is administered by injection.

The medical director of the HA’s Infectious Disease Centre, Owen Tsang, said patients with weak immune systems cannot get enough protection even after vaccinations, and the new drug could help prevent them from getting severe infections.

Around 190 doses have arrived in the SAR for now, and the authority said it will consider the number of immunocompromised patients here when deciding how many doses to order in future.

Meanwhile, the HA has given oral Covid drugs – namely Paxlovid and Molnupiravir – to over 27,000 patients, since they arrived in Hong Kong in the middle of last month.

The two drugs have reduced the death rate of patients by up to 78 percent, according to the HA’s analysis of local cases.

Half of the patients received the pills from designated Covid clinics, and Tsang reminded the elderly and high-risk patients to seek treatment at the clinics even if their symptoms are mild.

“People should take these medicines and get treated precisely when their conditions are mild, in the early stage of their illness,”he said.

The authority added that out of the 2,500 elderly care home infections recorded between mid March and mid April, only 17 percent were not given the Covid drugs.

Most of them have missed the best time to take the drugs or have refused that treatment.