“ ‘The first wave was the worries of transmissions from mainland (China), so we have put in a lot of measures. The second wave was the local transmissions, with those clusters arising from dinners and other things. Now we are facing the third wave.’ ”

That’s Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam talking over the weekend about the “most difficult and challenging wave” of the coronavirus pandemic: Surging numbers abroad and the returning residents who are bringing the disease back home.

According to CNN, Lam said that it was “only natural” that as the number of new cases drops, people “relax a bit” — that happened in the beginning of March after Hong Kong was credited as one of the areas successfully getting a handle on the outbreak.