The Hong Kong government is attempting to get Covid-19 classified as a ‘endemic’ illness in order to relax strict Covid restrictions, including as the need that infected individuals be isolated. A day after Macau declared the virus to be endemic and loosened most of the Covid regulations, Hong Kong followed China’s lead and came up with a similar strategy.
The status of Covid was demoted to endemic throughout China on Sunday in addition to the Special Administrative Regions (SAR). The administration will attentively observe the situation before making a decision, according to John Lee Ka-Chiu, Chief Executive of Hong Kong, as quoted in South China Post.
‘Based on the information and the real circumstances in Hong Kong, we will make a judgement. I want to point you that the Covid-19 categorization by the World Health Organization has not altered. As a result, we will likewise keep an eye out for any potential variations’, he added. ‘However, according to statistics and data thus far, these issues are in good control’, he said.
Professor Ivan Hung Fan-Ngai, Hong Kong’s pandemic advisor, reportedly backed China’s decision to classify Covid an endemic by arguing that the locals had strong hybrid immunity. 93% of the city’s eligible population, according to Hung, had received two doses of the Covid vaccination and 83% had received three shots. ‘If the virus were to be declared endemic, Covid would be treated as any other upper respiratory virus’.
A few months ago, experts upgraded the nation’s readiness to treat the virus as endemic. An essay showing the virus’s pervasive prevalence in the nation was released in September 2021 by pandemic advisor Professor Yuen Kwok-Yung. To stop the infection from spreading, Yuen recommended the usage of masks, particularly during the winter. The pandemic advisors had a variety of opinions, according to the South China Post story. As the nation’s borders have been opened, Professor Lau Yu-lung believes that isolation should last for a time.
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