The coronavirus outbreak in Hong Kong is shifting from a pandemic phase to an endemic one, a government health adviser has said, as he called for authorities to ease the city’s strict entry regime for overseas arrivals.
Professor Ivan Hung Fan-ngai, a top infectious disease expert and convenor of a government vaccine committee, on Thursday said Hong Kong had met the criteria for Covid-19 to be considered a constant presence in the city with a fairly predictable transmission pattern rather than a virus that could display exponential growth.
“Probably right now we are entering into an endemic phase already. Basically, we have very good hybrid immunity as unfortunately during the fifth wave ... the majority of the population has been infected with Omicron BA.2. Four million people have been infected,” he said.
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“As we know, Omicron BA.2 offers a very good cross-protection against BA.4 and BA.5, so we are in a very good position to open up and to move on to endemic.”
Health officials on Thursday logged 2,358 coronavirus infections, of which 162 were imported. Two Covid-related deaths were also reported, comprising two women aged 85 and 98.
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Authorities also said 12 people were in critical condition, while 13 were in serious condition.
The city’s overall coronavirus tally currently stands at 1,245,543 cases, with 9,401 related fatalities.
The remarks by Hung were made during a seminar organised by pharmaceutical company MSD on the lessons learned from the coronavirus pandemic by governments in Asia-Pacific.
The criteria which can signal the shift from a coronavirus pandemic to an endemic one are a high prevalence of Omicron cases resulting in mild symptoms, growth of hybrid immunity through high infection and inoculation rates, the presence of effective antiviral treatment, and the availability of variant-targeting vaccines.
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Vaccine producers Moderna and Pfizer, which were each in the penultimate phase of clinical trials for Omicron-targeting jabs, have both urged authorities to speed up the approval process to align with the release of their products later this year.
Moderna had also said its updated jab could be available for public distribution by August.
Around 88 per cent of the Hong Kong population aged 12 or above have received two doses of vaccine, while 64 per cent have been triple-jabbed.
With Hong Kong entering the endemic phase of the outbreak, Hung said the city could fully open up to the rest of the world.
“I think the option for Hong Kong is to consider relaxing the infectious control measures for the international border first and then after that, we will do so with the mainland, maybe a few months later,” he said.
More from South China Morning Post:
- Number of coronavirus cases linked to Hong Kong nursing homes rises as health experts call for unvaccinated elderly residents to get jabs
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