Election delay 'only' option for HK, says former health chief

More than 4.45 million registered voters and 30,000 staff are expected to be involved in the election, which will take place at 615 polling stations. Some polling stations may serve up to 15,000 voters in the polling day.

"It's highly likely that that would cause the duration of Hong Kong being affected by the epidemic to be longer," said Ko.

He also refuted that there is a political agenda behind the postponement. "I don't think there was a party that stands to gain or lose necessarily from such a postponement," he said.

Ko is confident that the city could control the epidemic in a few months, with the public's trust and cooperation with the government. He also noted that given the global pandemic situation, the tight quarantine arrangement for overseas arrivals should be kept in force. '

The central government has started to send experts to assist Hong Kong with virus testing and construction of isolation facilities.

Ko said the moves will offer timely help to Hong Kong's anti-pandemic efforts in the two areas, where the city faces the greatest challenges and with urgent need of help.

He said the seconded experts will beef up the city's testing capability. He also stressed deeper cross-boundary collaboration in constructing isolation facilities in the future – that is to build single units on the mainland and shipped them to Hong Kong for assembly.