Hong Kong faces Covid and flu winter double whammy, health chief warns, even as latest wave subsides and hospitals are set to restore some interrupted services
- Lo Chung-mau and officials urge residents to get vaccinated against influenza ahead of seasonal surge, assuring public the shots can be combined with doses for Covid
- City records 5,990 new coronavirus infections, including 163 imported ones, as well as 17 more related fatalities
Hong Kong is facing a double whammy of Covid-19 and seasonal flu in a coming winter surge, the city’s health minister has warned, even as the current coronavirus wave subsides and public hospitals are set to restore 20 per cent of interrupted services.
In a press briefing after receiving their fourth Covid-19 vaccine shot and a flu jab at the government’s general outpatient clinic in Sai Wan Ho on Thursday, Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau and top officials under him revealed the influenza vaccination drive would start on October 6, with a million doses already procured.
“Both jabs can be taken at the same time … It’s very convenient and we felt very good after resting for 15 minutes,” Lo said, before delivering his stark message.
“A lot of statistics have shown that co-infection of Covid-19 and flu will lead to a very high risk of severe illness and death.”
Lo said mask-wearing and social-distancing practices in the past two years of the pandemic had kept flu rates low, adding: “But because of that, residents’ immunity to flu has fallen a lot … I urge all residents to get vaccinated before the winter surge.”
