Yuen Kwok-yung, chair professor of the Department of Microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, talks to China Daily at Queen Mary Hospital on Aug 25. (PHOTO / WILSON CHEN)

HONG KONG — The fifth wave of COVID-19 in Hong Kong may take two to three months to subside as the number of positive cases grows exponentially, according to a top government advisor on the coronavirus pademic.

Saying there is little hope for the city to relax the current social distancing measures after the Chinese New Year holiday, University of Hong Kong microbiologist and government advisor Yuen Kwok-yung told a television show on Sunday that there are at least two transmission chains in the community — the Kwai Chung Estate cluster and pet shop cluster.

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Yuen said the residents in the Kwai Chung Estate have a good chance to protect themselves if they stay at home as much as possible and avoid breathing in the residue virus

He expected more cases will be reported in Kwai Chung Estate as a cleaner, who was  infected by the husband of a Pakistani woman after she had served out her quarantine period at a hotel, passed on the virus to at least one colleague. They brought the virus to different floors and buildings in the estate.

However, the residents in the estate have a good chance to protect themselves if they stay at home as much as possible and avoid breathing in the residue virus, said Yuen.

He also suggested the residents to open windows to maximize air change. “Most confirmed infections involve people living under 15th floor,” he said, possibly thanks to the high wind in upper floors that increases ventilation and dilute the virus in air.

As for the Delta variant in the pet shop cluster, Yuen said though the outbreak is not as serious as in Kwai Chung Estate, it would take 7 to 14 days to see if the transmission has been stamped out.

READ MORE: 2nd Kwai Chung block in 5-day lockdown as Omicron spreads

Infection through hamsters might cause genetic change to the variant and there are many uncertainties about its infectiousness, toxicity, antigenic shift and vaccine escape, he said.

He also said the untraceable infection of a 17-year-old student might have happened when his tutor, who had visited Little Boss, accidentally came into contact of hamster’s excretion and passed the virus to the student.

Abandon ‘co-existing’ fantasy

Respiratory medicine specialist Leung Chi-chiu said on a RTHK radio show on Monday morning that there is hope to contain the fifth wave in four weeks, with rapid actions in the coming week “of paramount importance”.

While calling for work-from-home or half-day arrangement across the city, Leung said people living in Kwai Chung Estate should have at least three testing results before going to work to reduce the risk of spreading the virus.

If the number of positive cases in the estate stays high, residents there should prepare for the possibility of evacuation or strict home isolation as in a quarantine center, he said.

Urging the public to abandon the fantasy of “co-existing” with Omicron, Leung said the existing vaccines do not provide sufficient protection against the Covid variant. 

Though the Omicron wave overseas has been less severe, it still came at the cost of continuous economic devastation and tens of thousands of human live, he said.