The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government will continue to leverage the advantages of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic and consolidate the TCM as an integral part of the medical system in Hong Kong, Chief Executive of the HKSAR Carrie Lam said on Saturday.

Lam visited the Hong Kong Baptist University's Chinese Medicine Telemedicine Center Against COVID-19 and learned about an online consultation service for COVID-19 patients launched by the university's TCM team last month.

The consultation service has provided free online advisory and consultation service, as well as the TCM delivery service, for people undergoing home isolation or quarantine, benefiting over 10,000 people so far.

"Upon the severity of the fifth wave of the epidemic and the highly transmissible Omicron variant, hundreds of thousands of people have been infected," Lam said. "I am pleased to see that treatment and disease prevention with the use of Chinese medicine has been given full play against the epidemic."

With the support of the HKSAR government, Hong Kong's Hospital Authority has been promoting anti-epidemic TCM treatment through various means, including providing TCM rehabilitation service for discharged patients and offering TCM treatment for in-patients.

She said the HKSAR government will continue to further leverage the advantages of the TCM in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic and consolidate the TCM as an integral part of the medical system in Hong Kong.

Also on Saturday, Lam told a press conference on the latest epidemic situation that the supply of cross-border fresh food in Hong Kong has generally returned to normal, and the price has also dropped sharply.

She said, for a period of time, many people in Hong Kong were infected or became close contacts and had to be quarantined, which led to the shortage of manpower in the transportation industry and affected cross-border and local logistics. However, the situation has been continuously improved.

The HKSAR government will provide information in an open and transparent manner to avoid misunderstandings and confusion among the public, she added.