Coronavirus Hong Kong: Omicron variant must be kept out of community, experts say; city confirms 3 new cases

Government adviser David Hui says quarantine hotels should step up their efforts to prevent cross infections, but further travel restrictions are not needed yet

However, infectious disease expert Leung Chi-chiu says further flight bans may be necessary, and that the government should discourage travel

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New rules for residents arriving from certain countries have been implemented in light of the Omicron variant’s spread overseas. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Published: 3:08pm, 28 Nov 2021Updated: 8:12pm, 28 Nov 2021

Hong Kong’s quarantine hotels must cut off any possible avenues of coronavirus transmission in light of the spread of the new Omicron variant, a local health expert has said, while another has cautioned against unnecessary travel during the coming holiday season.

First detected in Botswana, southern Africa, the Omicron variant has since cropped up in South Africa, Israel, Germany, Italy and Britain, with Hong Kong also recording two cases picked up in a quarantine hotel earlier this month.

However, experts were divided on Sunday as to whether more travel restrictions were needed to prevent the variant from slipping into the local community.

“Hong Kong’s long hotel quarantine means we probably don’t have such a big problem,” said government pandemic adviser Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, who pointed to an analysis of imported cases by the Department of Health that found 92 per cent were detected by the first week of isolation and 99 per cent by the second.