Health Secretary Lo Chung-mau on Thursday refuted suggestions that Covid-19 is as mild as flu, calling such comments misleading.

Writing on his blog, he hit back at medical experts who pointed out that the latest fatality rate of the coronavirus in Hong Kong was similar to that of influenza, at about 0.1 percent.

“Some people think the Centre for Health Protection should exclude the number of deaths at the peak of the Omicron outbreak earlier this year and only take into account the 0.1 percent fatality rate of Covid since May. This is a serious mistake. It disregards thousands of people who died of Covid-19, and misleads people into taking the pandemic lightly,” he wrote.

Lo reiterated the fatality rate of Covid-19 in Hong Kong since the pandemic started in 2020 is 0.6 per cent, with more than 9,500 deaths among almost 1.57 million people infected.

“We understand that after more than two years, people hope the epidemic will be brought under control as soon as possible,” he wrote. “However, using the death figures from May onwards... is a generalisation that would make people feel numb about the coronavirus situation and hinder our anti-epidemic work.”

Lo noted that Omicron is more transmissible and mutates more quickly than flu, adding that some of those infected could develop long Covid.

He added that children who are infected with Covid-19 are more susceptible to complications and deaths.

A specialist in respiratory medicine, Leung Chi-chiu, said the severity of Covid-19 should not be judged based on its fatality rate alone.

“With vaccination, early detection and antivirals, recent Covid-19 case fatality ratio approaches seasonal flu of about 0.1 percent in Hong Kong and Singapore. However, this is (the) result of active intervention, and not intrinsic virus property,” Leung noted.

He also said although the fatality rate of Covid-19 in Hong Kong has become lower, people should not underestimate the pandemic as the possible emergence of new variants capable of evading antibodies acquired from vaccination and prior infection could lead to explosive infection outbreaks and overwhelm the healthcare system.