The Government has formulated a contingency plan in case there is an outbreak of the Omicron COVID-19 mutant strain in Hong Kong, Secretary for Food & Health Prof Sophia Chan said today.

The health chief made the remarks after inspecting the North Lantau Hospital Hong Kong Infection Control Centre and the Hospital Authority Infectious Disease Centre at Princess Margaret Hospital.

Prof Chan said she chaired a meeting last week to discuss the way forward for the city's anti-epidemic efforts.

“Before Christmas, I chaired a meeting together with the Department of Health, the Hospital Authority and of course, the Food & Health Bureau, to discuss and also prepare our response plan in case there is an outbreak of the Omicron (COVID-19 variant) in Hong Kong.

“We discussed the prevention and response plan in the direction of our capacity. Of course it is our testing capacity, quarantine facilities, hospital isolation facilities as well as what if Omicron really has an outbreak in Hong Kong, whether we need to tighten our social distancing measures and so on.”

She also reiterated the importance of getting vaccinated against COVID-19.  

“Of course, vaccination is the most important. Taking the COVID-19 vaccine is an effective measure to protect ourselves, especially the elderly in Hong Kong who have a relatively low vaccination rate, to protect them from Omicron (infection) and from the outbreak.”

The two scientific committees under the Centre for Health Protection had recommended that adults should get a third COVID-19 jab six months after they received the second dose, Prof Chan noted.