Public hospitals are now accommodating around 3,000 Covid patients daily, a considerable rise compared to the figure of around 1,000 daily in earlier August, according to Ko, a member of the Executive Council.

"The public hygiene system is now under severe pressure, and around 40 percent of the health service is affected," said Ko.

"The government is reluctant to tighten social distance measures further," he added, "but we cannot rule out any possibility."

Ko slammed the opinions that anti-epidemic measures could be eased under increasing vaccination rates, arguing it had to be adapted to Hong Kong's circumstances.

"It is still too early to treat Covid as influenza," he said. "Variants of coronavirus have appeared in some countries, but the symptoms of the disease didn't seem to become milder."

Ko was Secretary for Food and Health from July 2012 to June 2017.

Hong Kong recently logged daily cases of Covid over 10,000, with the Coronavirus variant BA.4/5 infections have become the dominant strain, accounting for around 60 percent of all the patients.

The vaccination rate should be raised further with a sense of the society to receive vaccines, said Ko, mentioning the measure of lowering the age threshold for vaccine pass to five.

"Citizens should understand that the move is due to protecting young children," Ko claimed.