The number of confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia has exceeded 10,000 in a row. Xu Shuchang, chair professor of respiratory system at CUHK, said today (10th) that the Hong Kong community has formed a "severe disease prevention barrier". The effectiveness and significance of monitoring and other measures are no longer significant, so it is recommended to cancel relevant measures.
He emphasized that "laying flat" should not be used to describe the adjustment of prevention and control measures, because there is still a lot of work behind it, such as pushing up the vaccination rate.
He also estimated that with the development of the epidemic, the infected population in Hong Kong may exceed 90%.
▼December 3, Valley Needles, Civil Service Bureau Mall▼
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Recently, the epidemic situation in Hong Kong has heated up again. However, Hong Kong has not tightened the epidemic prevention measures like the previous waves of epidemics. Instead, it has further relaxed the isolation and quarantine policy for confirmed cases and close contacts in recent days.
Xu Shuchang reiterated in an interview with the mainland media that the number of confirmed cases only reflects the trend of the epidemic, and the most important thing is the rate of severe cases. At present, the number of people using ventilators in Hong Kong has returned to double digits, and there are only about 20 patients who need intensive treatment. At the beginning of the wave, almost 250 people were on ventilators, and more than 220 patients were admitted to the intensive care unit, which was greatly reduced.
Some people worry that the tragedy of the early stage of the fifth wave may recur. He said that the high fatality rate in the early stage of the epidemic was mainly due to the low vaccination rate of the elderly. Later, by increasing the vaccination rate and effectively diverting the confirmed cases, the problem of medical overcrowding has been solved.
He added that after serological testing, it is estimated that more than half of the people in Hong Kong have been infected with the new coronavirus from February to April this year.
With the large number of infected people and the greatly increased vaccination rate, the community has formed a "severe disease prevention barrier".
He said that it is difficult to establish an "immune barrier" under the epidemic of the new crown epidemic, "because immunity is completely non-infectious, but it cannot be done under the epidemic of the new crown epidemic, and the new crown virus cannot be eradicated for the time being." The population may exceed 90%.
In view of the current epidemic prevention measures, Xu Shuchang believes that once the infected people are allowed to be isolated and quarantined at home, the effectiveness and significance of measures such as enclosed and forced inspections and sewage monitoring will no longer be significant. Do an antigen test.
He emphasized that adjusting the prevention and control policy is not to "lay flat", but because of changes in the epidemic situation. With the virus's strong transmission and lethality weakened, coupled with the increase in vaccination rate, it is wise to adjust the strategy according to the current situation.
He continued that behind the adjustment of prevention and control policies, there is still a lot of work to be done, including pushing up the vaccination rate.
Xu Shuchang.
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Now that Hong Kong has allowed citizens to receive the fifth dose of vaccination, when asked whether the new crown vaccination will be regularized in the future, Xu Shuchang said that it depends on the future development trend of the epidemic and the virus, and it is not possible to draw conclusions too early. At present, he does not know.
If a new variant of the virus emerges, the current vaccine cannot cover it, and a new vaccine may be needed at that time.
In addition, there have been many discussions recently about whether to treat the new crown pneumonia as a flu. Xu Shuchang believes that the new crown virus and the flu are always two different viruses. After being infected with the new crown, there may be a "new crown", so the two are not exactly the same. But he agrees that as the new coronavirus continues to mutate, it is much less pathogenic.
▼Weekly Epidemic Press Conference on December 8▼
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