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The coronavirus is devastating when it gets out of control, but keeping it at bay is not an impossible mission if reacted early and from multiple fronts, as the Hong Kong case emerges. The region responded to the start of the outbreak with firm quarantine and prevention measures, but its closure of activities was slight. The result: only four deaths , after suffering a little more than a thousand confirmed infections .

With seven and a half million inhabitants, Hong Kong did not close its restaurants until early April, when the pandemic was raging across the globe and a spike in infections occurred, which authorities attributed to a second wave . The first came from Wuhan. The second, from anywhere. Still, their numbers are enviable, and more than half of the diagnosed patients have already recovered.

A new study, published in The Lancet Public Health , has found that "non-pharmaceutical" measures taken in Hong Kong since the end of January, such as social distancing, the use of face masks or the closure of schools, achieved that in the eight weeks Following the effective reproductive rate (Rt) was maintained at 1 . That is, each infected person infects, on average, another. As the first one dies or is cured, the disease does not go off like that.

From the work it follows that there is no magic recipe to face the pandemic. The success is not attributed to any specific measure, but to a broad set of them, which includes both the decisions of the authorities and the change of habits in the population. After suffering the onslaught of the previous coronavirus, SARS, 75% of Hong Kong residents began to avoid public places as early as January, while 61% took to the streets with masks.

The figures increased as the crisis deepened, reaching almost the entire population, 99% of which now uses face masks. At the end of March, when the public premises had not yet been closed and the last survey of the study was carried out, 85% were already avoiding them . Authorities also responded quickly. For example, schools closed on January 22 to celebrate Chinese New Year and have no longer reopened. In comparison, schools operated in Spain until mid-March.

The availability of tests , the restriction of travel and the rigorous isolation of both sick people and those who had been in contact with them also helped to contain the virus since its appearance.

Quick response to total closure

"By quickly implementing public health measures, Hong Kong has shown that the transmission of Covid-19 can be effectively contained without resorting to a highly disruptive total closure , such as that adopted in China, the United States or Western European countries," he said. Benjamin Cowling, director of research from the University of Hong Kong.

A limitation of the study, the authors acknowledge, is that it cannot be established which specific measures have been more effective, since what has been verified is the effectiveness of the whole. In fact, the flu has also been dramatically reduced , suggesting that the rapid response to the coronavirus has served to curb other diseases and, consequently, provide significant relief to the health system when it is most needed.

Although Hong Kong, according to Dr. Peng Wu, a public health expert and co-author of the study, had also predicted this: « Improved tests , hospital capacity to face new respiratory pathogens and a population well aware of the need to improve hygiene and maintain physical distance is a good exit ramp ».

Hopefully in the next crisis we can all use it.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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