Coronavirus reproductive rate in Hong Kong falls below 1, signals possible outbreak wane, but officials say further monitoring needed
- Estimated number of people infected by single patient stands at 0.98 as of September 7, marking first time rate has fallen below one since August 9
- But Hong Kong records slight uptick in cases for third day, with 8,999 infections and 16 deaths logged on Friday, including four-year-old boy
The reproductive rate for the coronavirus has fallen below one for the first time since August 9, signalling the pandemic in Hong Kong could wane, but officials warned a rebound was still possible and called for a longer observation period.
Health authorities on Friday said the estimated number of people infected by a single virus patient stood at 0.98 per cent as of September 7, indicating the spread of Covid-19 was slowing down.
But officials needed more time to study the recent infection trend to determine whether the lower reproductive rate could pave the way for the government to begin scaling back the city’s social-distancing curbs, they said.
“We are monitoring a number of indicators, such as severity and death cases, vaccination rates and case numbers,” said Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, of the Centre for Health Protection.
“There might be a small rebound from the gatherings which took place over the Mid-Autumn Festival, which we will have to keep monitoring for a while longer.”
Respiratory medicine specialist Dr Leung Chi-chiu said the drop in the viral reproductive rate suggested the resurgent wave had already peaked.
