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Published: 13:08, November 29, 2021 | Updated: 14:40, November 29, 2021
With Omicron making the rounds, how worried should HK be?
By Shamim Ashraf
Published:13:08, November 29, 2021 Updated:14:40, November 29, 2021 By Shamim Ashraf

HONG KONG – With the Omicron coronavirus variant, which the World Health Organization dubbed a "variant of concern" that is thought to be more contagious than previous variants, spreading around the world, more countries are imposing travel restrictions to try to seal themselves off. Now detected in Australia, Belgium, Botswana, Britain, Denmark, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Canada and South Africa, Omicron has triggered global alarm, with many fearing it could resist vaccinations, prompting nations to reconsider plans for international travel.

What distinguishes the variant, known B.1.1.529, from previous ones is its high number of mutations –it contains as many as 50 mutations overall and 32 on the spike protein. In its latest statement Sunday, the WHO has urged caution after two South African health experts indicated that symptoms linked to the coronavirus strain have been mild so far. “Understanding the level of severity of the omicron variant will take days to several weeks.”

We already know that the new variant, identified first in South Africa, has made its way into Hong Kong. With one of the world’s strictest quarantine regimes in place, do the Hong Kong residents need to be much worried? Government pandemic adviser Professor David Hui Shu-cheong thinks the city’s long hotel quarantine should ease the fear, pointing to an analysis of imported cases that show that 92 percent were detected by the first week of isolation and 99 percent by the second.

Hong Kong authorities have already imposed a total ban on the entry of non-Hong Kong residents from eight African countries – South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Malawi, Namibia and Zimbabwe. And Hong Kong residents flying in from those countries have to serve their first week of quarantine at the Penny’s Bay facility and undergo daily testing before they move to the remainder of their 21-day quarantine in a designated hotel.

With no local transmission of the virus, it is of utmost important for the city to prevent the variant from slipping into the local community. For this, the quarantine hotels must cut off any possible avenues of transmission. “The key is there cannot be transmission within the quarantine hotels, there really need to be precautions against airborne transmission,” Professor Hui told local media.

Take the city’s two Omicron variant cases: a traveler from South Africa was found to have the variant while the other case was identified in a person quarantined in the hotel room opposite his one. The first traveler was reportedly using masks with exhalation valves that don’t effectively filter exhaled air and the second patient might have been infected as air flowed between the rooms.

In a good first step, the city banned the use of masks with exhalation valves or vents in hotel quarantine last week because of the variant case situation. But stopping cross-infections requires more things to be done. More air filters should be installed in corridors, and the guests should keep their windows shut if they need to open their doors, to prevent air currents from sweeping virus-bearing respiratory droplets into hallways, experts have suggested.

Air purifiers need to be installed in rooms of the designated quarantine hotels if the guest intends to exercise with a stepper, exercise bike, walking pad, or treadmill to “remove aerosol generated,” during such activities, the government said in a statement.

With scientists putting their heads together to learn more about the new variant, we would fare best if we do our part by taking the jabs and maintaining hygiene without panicking.

Working as a full-time journalist since 2003, Shamim Ashraf joined China Daily Hong Kong in 2016 and is currently serving as Editor, GBA Pulse. He previously worked as an assistant editor of Asia News Network and web editor of The Daily Star newspaper (Bangladesh). He can be reached at shamim@chinadailyhk.com .

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