Professor Keiji Fukuda expressed his opinions on the potential impact of lockdowns in Europe and the United States. Professor Fukuda also commented on the WHO’s recent announcement of COVID-19 being a pandemic.

Professor Malik Peiris discussed the difficulties in COVID-19 control and prevention, and the urgency and importance of vaccine development for COVID-19. A number of laboratories around the world including the University of Hong Kong are currently engaged in developing one, but it is a time-consuming process.

Professor Gabriel Leung explained the concepts of severity and case fatality risk, and the rationale for school closures.

Professor Gabriel Leung presented the case fatality rate of COVID-19 estimated by his research team, discussed the interpretation of the estimates, and the differences in the estimates by age group.

Professor Ben Cowling explained the rationale in the change in case definition to include people with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 and not only patients tested positive by laboratory methods. Professor Cowling also discussed why the number of infected persons are likely to be underestimated, the mechanism of preventive efforts, and the severity of COVID-19.

Professor Keiji Fukuda compared the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19 to SARS in 2003. Professor Fukuda highlighted challenges the government has been facing in infection control, the importance of improving communication to the public, and also gave tips on mask use.