Outbreak control management: Lessons from SARS‐CoV‐2 infections in 2020–2022 in Hong Kong, an international municipality with high‐frequency travelers

Abstract

The control management of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) infections is one of the most challenges in the 21st century. By May 8th, 2022, SARS‐CoV‐2 has infected over 510 million people with 6.2 million death worldwide and over 1.2 million people with 9133 deaths in the fifth wave of infection in Hong Kong. The government responded rapidly in the early days of the 2020 outbreak, and the results were encouraging to control COVID‐19 outbreak unavailable of vaccine. The quick responses to the epidemic alerts, for example, public education and control policies, kept residents safe from infection in the city with such a high population density and large‐scale travelers. Nevertheless, the extremely high infectivity, Omicron variant infections, and the shortcomings of transmission control measures led to uncontrollable outbreak in 2022. The weak immunity groups, elderly and children, experienced a high hospitalization rate and mortality rate because of low vaccination rate. Currently, the infection is under well controlled. This study timely summarizes the challenges, policy, and lessons of SARS‐CoV‐2 outbreak control from 2020 to 2022. More importantly, the lesson and policy revealed from this study may be beneficial and applied to other cities with the outbreak of highly infectious SARS‐CoV‐2.

Psychological experience of Juvenile patients’ parents in Fangcang shelter hospital during the Omicron wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Shanghai, China: a qualitative study

“…However, there are some knowledge gaps between medical staff and the public. Therefore, offline and online methods, such as lectures, brochures, picture scrolls, videos, audio etc., should be provided by medical staff to promote the public's scientific awareness of Omicron [ 39 ]. (1) It should guide the JP to take active protective measures, such as wearing masks, keeping a distance of 1 m, washing hands frequently, and proper cough etiquette to avoid cross infection [ 40 , 41 ].…”

Epidemiological characteristics of paediatric Omicron infection during the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infection during March–May in 2022 in Shanghai, China

“…During the Omicron wave, a rapid surge of paediatric cases of COVID-19 was observed in the United States, Hong Kong Special Administration Region, and many other parts of the world [6, 7]. Minhang District is the second largest district among the 16 districts of Shanghai and has 10% of the total municipal population.…”

What we learned from lifting COVID-19 restrictions in Macao in December 2022

“…Many previous studies ( e.g. those in Hong Kong) have addressed similar issues on severe cases and death rates 10 . Thus, our findings still provide a valuable view that perhaps no vaccination is needed to prevent mild COVID-19 such as that caused by Omicron.…”