"By quickly implementing public health measures, Hong Kong has demonstrated that COVID-19 transmission can be effectively contained without resorting to the highly disruptive complete lockdown adopted by China, the USA, and Western European countries," said Professor Benjamin Cowling from the University of Hong Kong who led the research.

 

"Other governments can learn from the success of Hong Kong. If these measures and population responses can be sustained, while avoiding fatigue among the general population, they could substantially lessen the impact of a local COVID-19 epidemic." The study estimates that the rate at which the virus is transmitted -- known as the effective reproductive number, or the average number of people each individual with the virus is likely to infect at a given moment -- has remained at approximately 1 in the 8 weeks since early February, after public health measures were implemented from late January onwards, indicating that the epidemic in Hong Kong is holding steady.