Pandemic risk tests Hong Kong health links

HKTDC says executives and healthcare systems are already preparing for the next outbreak.

Hong Kong can strengthen pandemic preparedness by connecting healthcare systems, executives, investors and international partners before the next outbreak.

Speaking at the Asia Summit on Global Health (ASGH) 2026, Anna Cheung, Assistant Executive Director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, said hantavirus has made outbreak planning a timely issue, but healthcare leaders were already preparing behind the scenes. The ASGH put pandemic preparedness in its first plenary to show what governments and healthcare systems are doing before the next crisis emerges.

“Pandemic preparedness is a topic, especially in the past two weeks, because of hantavirus,” Cheung said. She said organisers had debated whether it was the right time to discuss the next pandemic, but found that executives and healthcare systems around the world were already focused on the issue.

Hong Kong’s role, Cheung said, is to help bring parties together and support wider collaboration, including with the World Health Organization. The city can act as a platform for healthcare systems and industry leaders to discuss practical preparation rather than wait for a new crisis to force action.

“As the Secretary for Health yesterday also said, the pandemic is not an if, it is a when,” Cheung said. She said the plenary was designed to help participants understand how the healthcare ecosystem is preparing for the next pandemic.

For HKTDC, the summit’s value is measured less by survey numbers and more by success stories that continue after the two-day event. Anna Cheung said her team follows up throughout the year to connect companies with investors, healthcare partners and other support.

One example is HeraNova, a medical technology startup focused on non-invasive diagnostics for women’s disease. HKTDC connected HeraNova with investors at last year’s summit, helping it complete a financing round. The company is now conducting clinical studies with three Hong Kong public hospitals.

“So this is what we are doing, to put people together, to introduce them, and hopefully there will be applications in the real world,” Cheung said.