Experts Criticize Govt's Tactics in Battling Covid-19

Ambush lockdown in Sham Shui Po a few days ago

 

Today Hong Kong reported 32 new coronavirus cases, and tonight there are lockdowns with mandatory testing in Sham Shui Po, and Ferry Point near Jordan.

But is this tactic of shutting down buildings and forcing people to take tests actually effective?

Some infectious disease experts in Hong Kong disagree with how the government is battling Covid-19 and they are not afraid to speak out.

Dr Keiji Fukada says lockdowns are "hostile"

Last week it was Dr Keiji Fukada, director of the University of Hong Kong's school of public health and a member of the government's Covid-19 advisory panel.

"The very term itself -- ambush-style lockdowns -- sounds awful, militaristic and hostile. The onus is on the government to explain what it is doing, and why, and in ways that the general public can understand."

Then the authorities re-framed it as "restriction-testing declarations" which sounds rather ridiculous as a euphemism. One newspaper calls it "guerilla lockdowns" which is pretty accurate, as they seem to pick an area at random and whoever is in the vicinity is stopped in their tracks and must get tested.

The authorities are even looking into breaking into people's homes if they don't respond to conducting the mandatory test. Again, hostile comes to mind...

Anyone caught in a lockdown must be tested

Today it was Dr Ho Pak-leung's turn to unleash his criticism. The HKU microbiologist says the lockdowns are targeting the wrong people and are conducted days after there is a case. He says this is ineffective, and instead the lockdowns should be done as soon as possible, or focus on clusters, and for him the construction sites are a concern.

Ho says it's strange that no lockdowns have been ordered for construction sites, even though transmission chains have emerged at a number of sites for a month.

He added that officials have never inspected any construction sites, including the airport's third runway project where there has been an outbreak.

Meanwhile he says having construction workers take Covid-19 tests to show a negative result in order to enter the site is not productive -- and that instead these workers should be tested right away to find out the source of transmission.

Dr Ho says construction sites should be tested

Ho also criticized the government for exempting mainland pharmaceutical company Sinovac from having to publish data from late-stage clinical trials in a medical journal before its Covid vaccine can be considered for emergency use in Hong Kong.

He said publication is one of the more than two dozen requirements listed by the World Health Organization before a vaccine can be cleared for use.

Ouch.

And then on the weekend it was reported that Chinese University gastroenterologist Dr Joseph Sung Jao-yiu, who led the fight against SARS back in 2003 is leaving Hong Kong to become dean of the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.  

Hong Kong has over 10,600 Covid-19 infections and 186 deaths. Sung says the Hong Kong government's efforts to contain the virus was "not doing too bad, but it can be better".

He says the U-turn on allowing the Lunar New Year flower markets to open contradicted the current gathering ban in restaurants of two per table, and closing at 6pm, while students were barred from having in-person classes.

Dr Sun says govt U-turns are confusing for public

The U-turns, Sung said, made people confused.

And when it came to possible discrimination against different groups in society, Sung said, "We could have done better with the dancing group. That's all I can say."

A lot can be inferred from his comment. If more was done to force this group to reveal more contact tracing information, this fourth wave may not have been as prolonged and widespread...