Hong Kong should ease its last coronavirus curbs based on its own epidemic situation, local medical experts have said ahead of a meeting of the World Health Organization to discuss whether Covid-19 should still be considered a global emergency. Speaking before the international body’s emergency committee meeting on Friday, the health experts also considered whether the government should soon begin a review of its handling of the epidemic or wait until a later date. “If the WHO says Covid-19 is no longer a public health emergency of international concern, many government officials, both Hong Kong and overseas, could also take a more relaxed approach towards policy decisions,” Professor David Hui Shu-cheong of Chinese University said on Thursday. But the government pandemic adviser also said the city’s epidemic situation should determine what restrictions remained in place. Citing the mask mandate as an example, Hui said the policy could be revised after winter to cover public transport, healthcare facilities and care homes instead of most public spaces. Source link

There is room for scaling back testing requirements for cross-border travellers between Hong Kong and mainland China, a former leader of the city has said, while a health expert has proposed reviewing the arrangement in two weeks. Leung Chun-ying, now a vice-chairman of national advisory body the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, on Saturday told a radio programme that Covid-19 cases in Hong Kong had so far been kept at bay despite gatherings throughout the Lunar New Year period and the mainland reopening its border earlier this month. “[A surge in infections] has not happened and today is already the seventh day [of Lunar New Year],” he noted. Former Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying is now a vice-chairman of the national political advisory body. Photo: Nora Tam Hong Kong’s daily caseload has hovered between 2,000 and 2,700 since Sunday – a drop of more than 10,000 recorded earlier in the month. The city logged 3,480 infections on Saturday, taking the total to 2,872,823, as well as 33 related deaths, putting the tally at 13,313. “I believe that after Lunar New Year … relevant authorities from both sides will continue to relax quarantine policies and arrangements on the polymerase chain reaction

Hundreds of Covid-19 patients will be allowed to leave isolation facilities in Hong Kong from Monday, as one of the last remaining pandemic control measures comes to end after more than three years. The city’s other main anti-epidemic measures – mandatory tests for travellers and a quota for mainland China border crossings – could also be dropped soon, Tam Yiu-chung, the city’s sole delegate to the country’s top legislative body, said on Sunday. Authorities will continue to use the Penny’s Bay camp on Lantau Island and the Novotel Citygate hotel in Tung Chung for isolation until the end of next month, but they have capped stays at seven days. At the height of the pandemic, Hong Kong ran a number of isolation facilities, including this one at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal. Photo: Edmond So As of Saturday, about 540 people were staying at the two sites, which offer 9,000 units in total. According to the Security Bureau, 220 people have indicated they will leave the facilities on Monday, while a number of infected residents told the Post they planned to remain until they tested negative or their seven days were up. Clara Leung, a 41-year-old mother, said she went

Some people in Hong Kong have been acting suspiciously to get their hands on Covid-19 antiviral drugs, the Post has learned, with one person going to six doctors in a single day asking for the same medicine. The Hong Kong Medical Association confirmed it received “a handful” of reports from private doctors earlier this month about people asking for the two registered antivirals available in the city, Pfizer’s Paxlovid and MSD’s molnupiravir. “It’s really strange. There is clearly a problem when someone goes to six different doctors on the same day for the same medication, Paxlovid,” said the association’s vice-president Dr Victor Yeung Hip-wo. Hong Kong residents can obtain Covid antivirals free of charge at public hospitals, clinics and specific private practices after consulting a doctor. Photo: May Tse The association also revealed that some individuals asked doctors for medicines on behalf of several others by claiming that they all lived in the same household, even though they had different surnames. Doctors noticed the suspicious behaviour soon after Hong Kong resumed quarantine-free travel with mainland China on January 8. The Pfizer drug is not easily available on the mainland, which had a spike in infections last month. Molnupiravir only became

Merck & Co’s Covid-19 pill is giving rise to new mutations of the virus in some patients, according to a study that underscores the risk of trying to intentionally alter the pathogen’s genetic code. Some researchers worry the drug may create more contagious or health-threatening variations of Covid, which has killed more than 6.8 million people globally over the past three years. Mutations linked to the use of Merck’s pill, Lagevrio, have been identified in viral samples taken from dozens of patients, according to a preprint study from researchers in the US and at the Francis Crick Institute, Imperial College London and other UK institutions. The drug-linked mutations of the virus haven’t been shown to be more immune-evasive or lethal yet, according to the study published Friday without peer review on the medRxiv website. But their very existence highlights what some scientists say are potential risks in wider use of the drug, which was recently cleared in China. Lagevrio works by creating mutations in the Covid-19 genome that prevent the virus from replicating in the body, reducing the chances it will cause severe illness. Some scientists had warned before it was authorised in late 2021 that by virtue of how

Hong Kong customs officers have seized about 257,000 tablets of smuggled Covid-19 drugs estimated to be worth more than HK$15 million (US$1.2 million) and arrested 20 suspects in connection with the illegal imports since January. Customs on Friday revealed 33 cases involving the smuggling of Covid-19 oral drugs had been detected since it began special enforcement operations after noticing a rising trend in the beginning of January. “We believe that most of the illegally imported Covid-19 oral drugs have been blocked,” said Lie Yan-ning, special investigation divisional commander of the syndicate crimes investigation bureau, adding he expected the trend to decrease as the local pandemic situation stabilised. Lie Yan-ning, special investigation divisional commander of the syndicate crimes investigation bureau. Photo: Jelly Tse He said 27 of the cases involved illegal imports of the drugs through postal parcels, express deliveries and freight, with the number of tablets in each case ranging from hundreds to more than 100,000. Six cases involved passengers bringing a total of about 87,000 tablets into Hong Kong through the city’s airport, mainly from India, Bangladesh, Thailand, the Netherlands and other European countries. Lie said those arrested included both local residents and foreigners. He did not rule out

Hong Kong’s daily Covid-19 rapid antigen test (RAT) requirement for students is “likely to be removed” by next month if the pandemic situation stabilises, the city’s education chief has said. Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin on Saturday told a radio programme that authorities would review the RAT policy for schools, which was earlier extended to February 28. “We will assess whether schools have operated smoothly [following the resumption of full-day, in-person classes] and also gauge the pandemic situation with consideration of experts’ views to decide if the rule can be lifted,” she said. Education minister Christine Choi addresses students on the first day of class resumption in the city for those from across the border. Photo: Sam Tsang The government has faced mounting calls from parents and health experts to lift the mandatory test for students after the city rolled back coronavirus restrictions in December, including screenings for inbound travellers and social-distancing curbs. As part of the wider policy change, all secondary schools from February 1 have resumed classes on campus regardless of their inoculation rate, with primary schools and kindergartens to follow suit from February 15. “We will make a decision and let the school sector know as

Singapore recorded its first fatality linked to the Covid-19 vaccine after the Ministry of Health announced that the death of a 28-year-old Bangladeshi man in 2021 was likely due to the jab. The man’s death 21 days after his Covid-19 vaccination was a medical misadventure, MOH said in a statement on Friday. “The cause of death was certified as myocarditis. The State Coroner also found that on the balance of probabilities, it was likely to be related to Covid-19 vaccination.” The ministry said the man died on July 9, 2021, after collapsing at his workplace earlier that day. He received his first dose of the Moderna-Spikevax Covid-19 vaccine on June 18 that year. Under the ministry’s Vaccine Injury Financial Assistance Programme, a one-time payment of S$225,000 (US$168,000) will be extended to his family, according to the statement. Source link

Hong Kong’s finance minister has raised high hopes of scrapping the city’s mask mandate, saying it could be lifted “at the end of the season” as the government has heard residents’ mounting calls for the last major Covid-19 restriction to be axed as soon as possible. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po was on Friday addressing his latest budget blueprint on government radio, but most callers were fixated on the mask measure. The city has extended the mandate for another two weeks until March 8. A source familiar with the matter said Chan was referring to the end of March. “This policy is still there on health grounds. My colleagues in the Health Bureau have been given [a] very clear message as to the community aspiration to take off masks as quickly as possible. This is high on their agenda,” the finance chief said. “My health colleagues [are] monitoring this very closely”. One caller argued: “It’s very difficult to tell people and persuade [them] that we are a leading international centre when we are the last people on the planet to remove masks.” Another brought up the question of tourism: “Imagine you and your family are travelling and looking at various

Shares of Chinese drug makers that produce medication for influenza have made strong gains, as the ailment overtakes Covid-19 as the major pandemic ravaging the country. The Hong Kong-traded stock of Yichang HEC Changjiang Pharmaceutical, which has a 90 per cent market share of the flu medicine oseltamivir in China, jumped 7.1 per cent for its biggest gain in a month on Tuesday, extending an almost 3 per cent advance last week. It dropped back 2.5 per cent to HK$7.90 on Wednesday. Other licensed makers of oseltamivir and flu vaccines have also been riding the wave. ApicHope Pharmaceutical rose to a record high of 48.69 yuan in Shenzhen this week, while Hualan Biological Bacterin is set for two straight weeks of gains, taking its rally to 10 per cent since February 17. The buying spree has been spurred by a spike in flu cases in mainland China, which prompted some primary schools in Beijing, Shanghai and Zhejiang province to suspend classes last week. The latest data from China’s disease control centre shows that flu cases have recently overtaken Covid-19 infections, although exact numbers are unavailable. “It’s a short-term trade and the momentum may not last too long,” said Dai Ming,

Hongkongers can finally remove their masks and greet others with a smile after 959 days of having to wear face coverings, with the city lifting its last major Covid-19 restriction on Wednesday. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Tuesday announced that the requirement to wear masks, both indoors and outdoors, as well as on public transport, would be scrapped from March 1. Despite the removal of the mandate, many Hongkongers intend to keep wearing masks for fear of infection risks, while health experts have also urged the public to keep them on while on public transport and in crowded indoor areas. As residents revel in the long-awaited relaxation, the Post looks into some life hacks for what to do with stockpiles of masks at home. A resident poses for a picture on the first day that Hong Kong no longer requires widespread mask wearing. Photo: K. Y. Cheng How many masks should people keep at home? Despite the lifting of the mask-wearing requirement, respiratory medicine expert Dr Leung Chi-chiu advised residents to wear face coverings in certain crowded, high-risk premises such as public transport, shopping centres and kindergartens. Source link

Genetic material collected at a Chinese market near where the first human cases of Covid-19 were identified show raccoon dog DNA co-mingled with the virus, adding evidence to the theory that the virus originated from animals, not from a lab, international experts say. “These data do not provide a definitive answer to how the pandemic began, but every piece of data is important to moving us closer to that answer,” World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday. How the coronavirus emerged remains unclear. Many scientists believe it most likely jumped from animals to people, as many other viruses have in the past, at a wildlife market in Wuhan, China. But Wuhan is home to several labs involved in collecting and studying coronaviruses, fuelling theories scientists say are plausible that the virus may have leaked from one. WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Photo: Reuters The new findings do not settle the question, and they have not been formally reviewed by other experts or published in a peer-reviewed journal. Tedros criticised China for not sharing the genetic information earlier, telling a press briefing that “this data could have and should have been shared three years ago.” The

Health authorities have launched an investigation after 14 people in Hong Kong were given expired Covid-19 vaccines at a private medical chain. The Department of Health found after a routine check on Wednesday that BioNTech’s bivalent vaccines which had been kept between one to eight days after the suggested use by date were used on patients from March 21 to March 28 at the Kowloon Bay branch of Quality HealthCare. Vaccine maker Fosun Pharma had suggested that the jabs should be kept at between two to eight degrees Celsius (35.6 to 46.4 degrees Fahrenheit) and be used inside 70 days after they were thawed out, the department said on Wednesday night. The department added it had consulted city experts and the vaccine maker about the safety, efficacy and quality of the vaccine and said no re-vaccination was needed for the people affected. An investigation is launched after a Hong Kong medical centre gave patients coronavirus shots past their “use by” dates. Photo: DPA But the authorities said Quality HealthCare should contact the affected patients to explain the situation and follow up on their health. They said the clinic should deal with reports of discomfort immediately and also notify the department.

​A government pandemic adviser on Saturday defended a vaccine policy shift in Hong Kong requiring residents to pay for an additional Covid-19 booster shot from April 20, as he argued public resources should be prioritised for vulnerable groups. Ivan Hung Fan-ngai, a member of the administration’s Covid advisory panel, also warned of a possible rebound in cases in June or July, but said the public should not worry as the city had already built strong immunity against the coronavirus. On Friday, the government announced that groups deemed at high risk of developing severe Covid symptoms would be entitled to a free booster shot this year from April 20, at least six months after their previous dose or infection. However, other residents would have to pay for their fourth or fifth Covid shot from the private sector from the same date. Health secretary Lo Chung-mau on Saturday said it would be up to private clinics to decide on the charge. HKU expert and government pandemic adviser Ivan Hung. Photo: Xiaomei Chen Hung, chief of the University of Hong Kong’s infectious diseases division, told a radio show on Saturday that the government had adopted a “correct and reasonable” approach to focus on

Hong Kong is set to curtail its Covid-19 vaccination programme after more than two years. Starting late April, the city will stop offering free additional boosters to residents who do not fall in the high-risk category. Instead, they will have to get a fourth or fifth dose at a private clinic at their own expense. The Post explains the recent updates to the city’s vaccination arrangements. 1. What are the latest updates to the programme? Only those deemed at high risk of developing severe Covid symptoms can receive free additional boosters after April 20. High-risk groups include residents aged 50 or above, people aged 18 to 49 who have chronic illnesses, the immunocompromised, pregnant women and healthcare workers. Others will have to pay for their fourth or fifth dose at private clinics. Residents who are not part of the high-risk groups can still receive the first three jabs for free if they have never been infected before. If they wish to receive additional boosters they need to pay for them at private clinics. Those who made bookings before April 20 will not be affected by the changes. Source link

Hong Kong is experiencing a surge in residents getting free booster shots against the coronavirus with two weeks to go before the jabs become chargeable, according to doctors. Dr Lam Wing-wo, a private practitioner who sits on the Centre for Health Protection’s vaccine ­committee, said more people had made reservations at community vaccination centres before the Easter holiday. “They may want to travel and enhance their protection a week or two before the long holiday,” he told a radio programme on Monday. People wait to receive the Covid-19 vaccination at a medical clinic in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Sam Tsang “Doctors may have also discussed with patients who had their third shot over a year ago, and thus more healthy individuals are now considering the booster. There have been about five to 10 people coming to my clinic daily and asking for details about shots since last Friday.” He later said that at least four patients had visited his clinic to receive booster shots on Monday, but had not administered any jabs before the government announced the policy change on March 31. Lam estimated only a few hundred people monthly would pay for the jab after April 20, a figure

The World Health Organization said on Thursday it was sure that China had far more data that could shed light on the origins of Covid-19, demanding that Beijing immediately share all relevant information. “Without full access to the information that China has … all hypotheses are on the table,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva. “That’s WHO’s position and that’s why we have been asking China to be cooperative on this,” he said, insisting that if Beijing does provide the missing data “we will know what happened or how it started”. More than three years after Covid-19 first surfaced, heated debate around the origins of the pandemic is still raging. 03:18 Beijing rejects US agency report saying Covid-19 likely emerged from Chinese lab leak Beijing rejects US agency report saying Covid-19 likely emerged from Chinese lab leak The issue has proved divisive for the scientific community and even different US government agencies, drawn between a theory that the virus jumped naturally to humans from animals and one maintaining that the virus likely leaked from a Wuhan lab – a claim that China has angrily denied. Source link

A Hong Kong government adviser has predicted that the World Health Organization will declare an end to the coronavirus pandemic in about three months, assuring residents of a smooth return to normality in a post-Covid era. Professor Lau Yu-lung, also chairman of the Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases, on Saturday said coronavirus infections had entered a final stage locally with very limited impact on society. “The number of Covid infections has slightly rebounded recently with about 200 new cases on Friday. But there is no cause for concern as our focus should be on the number of fatalities or serious cases,” he told a radio programme. Professor Lau Yu-lung, chairman of the Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases. Photo: Edmond So Lau pointed out the number of fatalities remained low over the past few months while only 7 per cent of infected patients needed hospital treatment as of April 10, telling residents they could expect a return to normality as the worst had passed since the deadly fifth wave last year. “Most Hongkongers have either been vaccinated or infected so their risks of fatality or suffering from serious symptoms are really low … The impact of the coronavirus pandemic

Hong Kong has detected seven cases of a highly infectious Omicron subvariant that has raised alarm overseas, authorities have said, although experts have stressed that the local infections should not be a cause for concern. The Department of Health said on Monday seven cases of XBB.1.16, known as Arcturus, which was first detected in India earlier this year, were found among the samples collected in the city. Top health expert Professor David Hui Shu-cheong of Chinese University on Monday said the subvariant was highly transmissive but the number of severe cases had not risen in the regions where it had been found. “XBB.1.16 was found in a few samples in Hong Kong. I believe it can mostly be found in imported cases, as it was first found in India,” Hui told a radio programme. Professor David Hui from Chinese University. Photo: Winson Wong “The transmissibility is quite high but the severity has not gone up. In the countries that have reported cases with this subvariant, there has been no increase in patients admitted to intensive care units or deaths … We do not need to be too worried.” Source link

Hong Kong has discarded nearly 50,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses since the start of the government’s inoculation scheme in 2021, including unused shots and stocks that were improperly stored. An estimated 0.2 per cent of vaccines procured by authorities were disposed of, according to a Post calculation. Medical experts said wastage was inevitable amid unprecedented pandemic developments, and the proportion was small. Official data provided to the Legislative Council last week showed that about 37,200 and 11,500 doses of the Sinovac and BioNTech vaccines, respectively, were thrown away by the government as of early March. Official data shows about 37,200 and 11,500 doses of the Sinovac and BioNTech vaccines, respectively, were discarded. Photo: Yik Yeung-man “The discarded doses include thawed ones which were unutilised after outreach vaccination activities and those falling outside the stringent storage conditions,” Director of Health Dr Ronald Lam Man-kin told lawmakers. Officials declined to disclose the unit price of the disposed vaccines, citing confidentiality agreements signed between the authorities and the jab suppliers. As of late January this year, Hong Kong had procured 23.8 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines supplied by Sinovac and BioNTech. The government first allocated HK$8.4 billion (US$1.1 billion) in 2020 to kick-start the