The SAR government announced that it will cancel the quarantine order following being diagnosed with the new crown from January 30. The new crown is still a legal infectious disease, but citizens who test positive quickly will not need to report; the authorities will only release the number of positive nucleic acid tests and death cases.
In a brief summary, following three years of anti-epidemic, Hong Kong is on the way to full recovery, and the new crown has been treated as a common disease.
Lu Chongmao, director of the Medical and Health Bureau, revealed two sets of figures: 1. The vaccination rate of the new crown vaccine among citizens has increased, and the effective vaccination rate of equivalent to three doses of vaccination due to infection has reached 95%. 2. The lethality of the new crown virus has declined. The death rate at the peak of the epidemic at the beginning of last year reached 0.77, and the death rate dropped to 0.19 by the end of the year.
When the fatality rate of the virus drops to low and the social immune barrier is high, the cost of epidemic prevention measures becomes higher than the benefit.
Since, together with the equivalent of three doses of vaccination due to infection, the effective vaccination rate is 95%, and non-vaccination is a major cause of death from the new crown, the 5% of people who refuse to get injections will not believe it if they are given three more years Go for an injection. Society has slowly discovered that it cannot continue to pay a heavy price for the five percent. From another perspective, the cancellation of the isolation order will inevitably make the virus spread more easily. Those who do not get injections are actually the most stupid.
Since customs clearance with the mainland on January 8 and the cancellation of the quarantine order on January 30, the anti-epidemic measures have been cancelled, and only a few items remain:
1. The state of public health emergency is still maintained. Officials pointed out that the government’s adjustment of epidemic prevention measures is not to relax or give up. The United States has also recently extended the local public health emergency state to April, so the SAR government maintains the state of public health emergency.
2. The mask order is still maintained. Lu Chongmao bluntly said that he does not want to wear masks frequently in his daily life, but masks are still an effective anti-epidemic tool to prevent respiratory infections, and the authorities will consider making adjustments at an appropriate time.
3. Vaccination is still promoted. After the cancellation of the “Travel with Peace of Mind” vaccine pass, the semi-mandatory vaccination requirement has been cancelled. However, the government continues to promote the vaccination of “one old and one young”.
4. Nucleic acid testing for entry and exit from the Mainland. Earlier customs clearance between Hong Kong and the Mainland stipulated that all people entering the Mainland from Hong Kong or entering Hong Kong from the Mainland must have a negative nucleic acid test result within 48 hours. In fact, the two places have returned to normal, and the nucleic acid testing requirements for going south and north can be cancelled. In the early stage of cancellation, they can be replaced by quick tests, and then they can be completely cancelled.
Of the above-mentioned measures, only vaccination can be retained for a long time. As far as the current known situation is concerned, no matter following the booster injection or six months following the diagnosis, the antibody will decrease and the risk of infection will increase. So every once in a while, it is necessary to re-vaccinate.
Various studies have now found that mixed vaccination with different vaccines is more protective. Hong Kong has two types of vaccines: mRNA vaccines (Fubitai and Fubitai bivalent) and inactivated vaccines (Kexing), but there are other vaccines in the mainland Such as adenovirus vectors, influenza virus vectors, recombinant subprotein vaccines, and oral and nasal inhalation vaccination methods. These vaccines have not been introduced to Hong Kong because Hong Kong requires vaccines to be tested and certified by at least two foreign countries, and those that do not meet the requirements cannot be exported to Hong Kong.
The SAR government should be as flexible as possible to introduce more different types of vaccines, especially oral and nasal inhaled vaccines, to increase choices and increase the incentives for citizens to get injections. Everyone knows that the epidemic will inevitably spread following the return to normal. To make the public the first person responsible for their own health, they should be given more choices.
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Lu Yongxiong
