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Coronavirus: Hong Kong expert warns each infected person can now spread Covid-19 to four people
- Professor Gabriel Leung, dean of HKU medical school, says a strain of the virus has increased its infection rate by 30 per cent due to a DNA mutation
- Microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung says the current wave of new infections is almost certainly due to the lifting of social-distancing measures
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A top medical expert advising the Hong Kong government on Covid-19 has warned that each infected person could transmit the coronavirus to four others, as the virus has turned more infectious, while the city has now entered the most serious phase of the public health crisis.
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Professor Gabriel Leung, dean of the University of Hong Kong’s medical school, said he believed there were at least 50 to 60 hidden cases in the community as an international study indicated a strain of the virus had increased its infection rate by 30 per cent due to a DNA mutation.
He highlighted Kowloon East and Sha Tin as two areas most at risk of an outbreak and urged the government to prioritise testing resources for the elderly.
“This is the start of a sustained massive local outbreak the likes of which we have never seen before,” Leung said on a radio programme on Sunday.
On Saturday, health authorities warned that Hong Kong’s third wave of Covid-19 was by far the most serious of the public health crisis to date, as at least 61 people in the city were either confirmed as infected or had tested preliminary positive.
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