HONG KONG — Hong Kong health authorities have recorded another day of at least a hundred Covid-19 infections, a mix of confirmed and preliminary cases, a medical source has told the Post, as local infectious disease experts warned a citywide curfew could be necessary if the run continues.

The triple-digit infection tally comes a day after the administration announced it would make mask-wearing mandatory in indoor public spaces, while civil servants would once again begin working from home.

It was not immediately clear how many of Monday’s (July 20) infections were confirmed, but health authorities have already said there were at least 20 positive cases that were not counted in Sunday’s tally.

One of the new cases, according to another medical source, was a 54-year-old man who earlier spent six days in a general ward at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital and has tested preliminary positive. The relevant ward is now shut and authorities have begun tracing his close contacts.

On Sunday, Hong Kong reported 108 confirmed infections, the highest daily total since the pandemic began and the first time the city recorded a three-digit figure, pushing the official tally of infections to 1,885, with 12 deaths. That total reflected only infections recorded on Saturday between 4pm and midnight due to the high number of tests needing to be processed at public laboratories.

A day prior, the city surpassed the total number of patients — 1,755 — recorded during 2003’s severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) epidemic.

Speaking on a Monday radio programme, infectious disease experts Professor David Hui Shu-cheong and Dr Ho Pak-leung warned the triple-figure surge would likely continue for the next few days and may not have peaked yet.

Dr Ho added that the city’s cumulative infections have now outstripped neighbouring Guangdong province, which has only 1,659 confirmed cases to date despite having more than 10 times Hong Kong’s population.

“A curfew is needed if the situation continues to deteriorate,” Dr Hui, a respiratory medicine expert at Chinese University, said.

University of Hong Kong microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung echoed Hui’s remarks on another radio programme, calling on the government to impose a lockdown to keep residents at home by law if an exponential rise in cases continues after seven to 14 days.

The government stepped up its coronavirus response on Sunday with a raft of measures, including — in a U-turn — ordering civil servants to work from home from Monday and keeping only emergency and essential public services open. 

It also extended the ban on dine-in services at restaurants from 6pm to 5am until July 28, and announced it will make masks mandatory for indoor public places such as shopping centres.

Dr Ho said the private sector should now follow the government’s lead and let its employees work from home. He also urged the government to go further on the mask rule and apply it to all public places, both indoor and outdoor.

“Many people queue at bus stops. Many Filipino and Indonesian maids gather on Sunday, singing and dancing together without a mask on. Many people smoke together as well,” he said.

“The government can be more decisive on this … mandatory mask wearing does not hurt the economy, and can target those who are ignorant or disregard the public good,” he added.

But he also stressed the importance of personal responsibility. “If citizens don’t behave, then any government measure would only achieve half its intended effect.”

Dr Ho dismissed concerns that a blanket rule would be unworkable, citing Singapore, which exempted children under the age of two, people who are exercising and those who could not wear masks for health reasons.

Both Dr Ho and Dr Hui expressed concern that the worsening health crisis would soon overwhelm the city’s public health system. Dr Hui said isolation beds in public hospitals, which have a capacity of 1,700 and an occupancy rate of 68 per cent currently, would be filled within a week if new cases continue to soar by three digits a day.

He said the median age of Covid-19 inpatients during the city’s first and second wave of infections was 34, and they spent an average of 19 to 21 days in hospitals. But with an increase in elderly patients during the third wave, many of whom are suffering from more severe conditions, Dr Hui worried public institutions would struggle to cope.

Dr Ho agreed and pointed out that on Sunday, only 196 units were still available in the city’s quarantine centres, and those could easily be occupied in the coming days. SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST