Lee Cries Covid Wolf

Lee claims Covid-19 is six times more deadly than the flu

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu is sounding the alarm, but does anyone care anymore?

He warned Covid-19 is six times more fatal than the flu, but health experts dispute this, saying the mortality rates of the two respiratory diseases are similar, partly because of high levels of immunity.

They estimate the fatality rate for Covid-19 in Hong Kong is at 0.098 percent, which is close to the 0.1 percent for influenza; they said this is because of the city's high vaccination coverage for the coronavirus and natural immunity levels.

Dr Hui says death rate actually much lower

Dr Leung Pak-yin, a former chief executive of the Hospital Authority says the Covid-19 fatality rate of 0.6 percent cited by Lee "failed to differentiate between this current wave and the fifth wave during February to March," he said.

"With the build-up of the immunity barrier in the community, the [Covid-19] death rate in Hong Kong since May has been similar to that of flue," Leung said on social media.

He also said Lee was calculating the fatality rate by lumping all the Covid-19-related deaths together (9,511), instead of focusing on those since May 15 (356 deaths) because Omicron is a sub-variant.

"Analysing data has to be precise. Death rates vary according to the mutation of the virus, and the community infection situation," Leung said.

Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, who is the government's pandemic advisor, agreed with Leung. Dr Joseph Tsang Kay-yan, chairman of the Medical Association's advisory committee on communicable diseases said the recent death rate of 0.098 could be even lower due to under-reported infections, as Omicron is less deadly.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection agreed the fatality rate was at around 0.1 percent.

Dr Chuang says mortality rate around 0.1 percent

"In the fifth wave after May, the overall death rate is certainly lower than that from December to April. I think that is because many people had been infected before, and more people had got vaccinated," she said.

But Chuang added the mortality rate among elderly coronavirus patients could be higher, but not to the extent suggested by Lee.

Why is he doing this? Perhaps to continue justifying Hong Kong's zero-Covid strategy, or to scare people into getting vaccinated. But those who have managed to travel outside the city this summer can attest that the rest of the world has moved on from Covid-19 for the most part, and that when people are infected, they mostly experience flu-like symptoms, or are even asymptomatic. There is basically nothing to fear.

It seems like Lee is crying wolf which contradicts top health experts' assessments. His lumping all the cases together is a pathetic attempt at massaging the numbers to suit his message. And then it is completely shot down by a bunch of doctors.

Perhaps this is their way of resisting against the government instructions to only speak with one voice -- one voice against the city's leader?