Club Online Zoom Event: Past the Peak? What Comes Next in Hong Kong’s Battle with COVID-19

Hong Kong appears to have managed to contain the feared “second wave” of the coronavirus pandemic, and many are asking whether it is time to begin relaxing the restrictions on gathering and social distancing, and to start reopening the economy. The relatively low number of infections and deaths here seem a consequence of methods including contact tracing and quarantines, which other places are now trying to emulate. But some fear the success now may be tenuous, and Hong Kong might be facing a potential “third wave” of infections as the coronavirus continues to wreak global havoc. How will we know when the virus has really been defeated, and how long will it remain a threat?

Ben Cowling, who holds a PhD in medical statistics at the University of Warwick, joined the University of Hong Kong (HKU) School of Public Health in 2004, and has been the Head of the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics since 2013. He is a co-director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control at HKU and has links with the China Center for Disease Control and Harvard University’s Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, and an Associate Editor of Emerging Infectious Diseases.