HK strives for sustained daily infection decline

Medical workers collect samples for nucleic acid testing at a mobile testing site in Hong Kong, south China, March 11, 2022. [Photo by Lo Ping Fai/Xinhua]

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government－with the nation's help－will boost the number of medical workers and other anti-pandemic measures, as it strives for a sustained decline in daily COVID-19 infections.

At the daily briefing on the outbreak on Sunday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced various measures to enhance support for an estimated 300,000 residents in home quarantine. Six more COVID clinics will also start operations this week, and more medication and oximeters will be added to anti-pandemic kits distributed to residents.

"With so many people put under isolation or quarantine, the government has been strengthening our capability to support them. However, we're still catching up," she told reporters.

Health authorities reported 32,430 new positive cases on Sunday, compared with 27,647 on Saturday and 29,381 on Friday. Authorities reported 264 new deaths on Sunday.

However, the number of new cases is still lower than the peak of over 50,000 daily infections in early March.

Cautioning the public not to let their guard down, Lam said the government will strive for a bigger downward trend in daily cases, and make greater efforts to address the acute shortage of medical staff.

With the city's continuous efforts and the central government's firm backing, Hong Kong's anti-pandemic work has achieved good progress in providing funds, medical materials and facilities.

On the shortage of medical workers, Lam said that although the SAR government has turned to the mainland for help, it takes time to send workers across the border. There are severe shortages of doctors, nurses and caregivers, she said, adding that the HKSAR government will continue to mobilize local residents to join the fight.

Lam said it is estimated that nearly 300,000 people are self-isolating at home, based on the assumption that patients and their close contacts should not leave their houses for 14 days. She added that the number in isolation could be slightly higher, as the government later relaxed the conditions for quarantine.

Six more clinics will be designated this week to treat COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms, increasing the total of such facilities to 23, Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee said in the same briefing.

Besides having traditional Chinese medicines, the anti-pandemic kit distributed to the public will, starting on Monday, include paracetamol to help reduce fever. For households with confirmed patients, oximeters will also be included to measure their blood oxygen levels, Chan said.

Undersecretary for Home Affairs Jack Chan Jick-chi said a fourth call center will be opened to receive calls from patients using the government's 24-hour anti-pandemic hotline.

The number of telephone lines serving the hotline will be increased to 550. About 540 people answer over 10,000 calls every day.

The mainland-aided community isolation facility in Fanling with 1,000 beds began operations on Sunday. A day earlier, another such facility came into service, providing 1,200 beds.

In an online video on Sunday, health secretary Chan said that besides Queen Elizabeth Hospital, five more public hospitals will be used to exclusively treat COVID patients.

They are North Lantau Hospital, Tin Shui Wai Hospital, Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, Fung Yiu King Hospital, Ruttonjee Hospital and Haven of Hope Hospital.