To manage the large influx of patients during the Omicron surge of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the Hospital Authority (HA) expanded the use of high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) oxygen therapy devices in the general wards of hospitals in Hong Kong.1 In an interview with Omnihealth Practice,

A recent local study published in Nature Cell Biology has revealed transcriptomic and epigenomic dysregulation on the maternal-fetal interface (MFI) caused by maternal severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection.¹ Jointly conducted by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and the Division of Life Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), this research was first of its kind in assessing epigenetic alterations for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-associated pregnancy.¹  

Since early March 2023 when COVID-19 restriction measures in Hong Kong were abated, a resurgence of local cases, caused predominantly by Omicron XBB and its descendant lineages, has been observed.^1,2 Given the enduring threat of COVID-19 infection and long COVID, vaccination remains the key prevention strategy to safeguard public health, particularly the high risk group.  In a recent interview with Omnihealth Practice, Prof. Thomas, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology in SUNY Upstate Medical University, shared his insights on the effectiveness of the new bivalent BNT162b2 vaccine (original/BA.4-5 strains) and the future global vaccination strategies in response to the emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants.

From March 1, 2023, all the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) restriction measures have been lifted in Hong Kong including the mask mandate, getting the society back to normal.¹ However, there is a rebound of local COVID-19 cases caused by predominantly XBB, an Omicron sub-variant, and its descend

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a novel post-infectious inflammatory condition associated with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), characterized by prolonged fever, gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and rash.¹ To some extent, the disease resembles Kawasaki disease (KD), toxic shock syndrome (TSS), and hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), increasing the difficulty in differential diagnosis in clinical practice.¹ In an interview with Omnihealth Practice, Dr. Cheung, Wai-Yin Eddie discussed the challenge of evaluating suspected MIS-C cases in real-life scenarios and emphasized the importance of timely intervention among children who were infected with or recently recovered from COVID-19. He also shared a clinical case of a 7-year-old girl with MIS-C who presented with early MIS-C symptoms and was managed with immunomodulatory treatment, swiftly achieving favorable outcomes.

In a local retrospective cohort study analyzing data during Hong Kong’s omicron BA.2 wave, molnupiravir and nirmatrelvir-ritonavir were found to be effective in reducing the risks of all-cause mortality and disease progression, as well as the need for oxygen therapy among hospitalized patients due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and without supplemental oxygen requirement.¹ The study revealed the substantial clinical benefits of oral antivirals, serving as evidence to support their early use among Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients in Hong Kong.¹

The fifth wave of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused more than a million people being infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (Omicron BA.2, predominant) and over 9,000 COVID-19-associated deaths in Hong Kong.¹ Children, a subgroup of the population who had experienced more favorable outcomes vs. the older adults during the first 4 waves of the pandemic, were reported to have disproportionately higher hospitalization rates under the Omicron era.² Some studies revealed that seizure and laryngotracheobronchitis, or croup, were common severe complications which led to pediatric hospitalization.² The findings highlighted the importance of COVID-19 vaccination among children, but those aged <5 years were still not eligible for this mitigation measure. In an interview with Omnihealth Practice, Dr. Leung, Sze-Yin Agnes presented the latest safety and efficacy data of BNT162b2 among children aged ≥6 months and encouraged parents to arrange COVID-19 vaccination for their children to reduce the negative impact of this pandemic in young children.    

In the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting 2022, Dr. Claudia Tandler from the University of Tübingen, Germany, discussed the safety and immunogenicity of a novel multi-peptide vaccine, CoVac-1, for the induction of a (SARS-CoV-2) T-cell immunity in cancer patients with dis