Responding to COVID-19 in Hong Kong
Kelvin Kai‐Wang To, Kwok‐Yung Yuen
Abstract
The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The COVID-19 is primarily an acute viral respiratory disease which can manifest as acute upper or lower respiratory tract syndrome of varying severity, from asymptomatic virus shedding, rhinorrhoea, sore throat, conjunctivitis to cough, asymptomatic or silent hypoxia, chest discomfort, respiratory failure, or even multiorgan failure. 1,2 4] The crude fatality varies widely for different geographical regions from 0.4% to 10%. espite over 6 million COVID-19 cases and 360 000 deaths globally, Hong Kong has a total of about 1094 cases at the time of writing, which is one of the lowest per million population among developed regions. The painful experience of the SARS outbreak in 2003 sparked a large body of local animal surveillance, which showed that 39% of Chinese horseshoe bats could be harbouring bat SARS-related coronaviruses. Knowing that coronaviruses are prone to genetic mutations and recombination which produce new virus species, and the presence of a large reservoir of SARS-related coronaviruses in these horseshoe bats, together with the culture of eating exotic mammals in southern China, Hong Kong has anticipated and prepared for the re-emergence of SARS and other novel viruses from animals since 2007. ased on soft intelligence that an epidemic due to a suspected SARS-related coronavirus was looming in Wuhan on 31 December 2019, border thermal scanning and consensus reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays for unexplained pneumonia were started. The serious response level was activated by Centre for Health Protection on 4 January 2020. The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen hospital has served as the sentinel for Hong Kong by identifying the first family cluster of COVID-19 who presented with symptoms after returning from Wuhan on 10 January 2020.