“Think about how HK can help China’s Covid fight”

Government Covid advisor Gabriel Leung said on Sunday that Hong Kong needs to consider how it can contribute to the country’s fight against the pandemic, being the only place in China where there has been a massive outbreak.

The head of Hong Kong University’s medical faculty said he thinks the mainland isn’t ready to treat the coronavirus as an endemic disease yet, because their elderly vaccination rate is not high enough.

Leung said one thing Hong Kong can help with is research on vaccination, having found that three jabs, whichever brand they may be, offer good protection against serious cases of Covid 19 and deaths.

“[This is] very good information as to what needs to be done, to best protect the older population of mainland cities and villages, to prepare for the eventuality of widespread community transmission,” he said after attending a Commercial Radio programme.

The professor also said he doesn’t see any mainland province resuming quarantine-free travel with Hong Kong anytime soon, noting that mainland officials have been dismissed for any outbreaks there.

But he stopped short of saying the SAR should prioritise opening the borders to the international community, saying it also needs to consider the interests of other provinces and cities, not just its own.

Leung urged Hong Kong people not to relax their vigilance against Covid.

The recent drop in daily caseloads in the city, Leung said, only shows the epidemic situation has gone from “extremely serious to very serious”.

The professor said the SAR needs to be more precise with its vaccination drive, especially for its elderly population, and one way to achieve that is to publicise every day the inoculation situation of care home residents.