Editorial | We can all help ease burden on hospitals
- With the rise in daily coronavirus cases putting the city’s health care system under tremendous pressure, it is essential that quarantine and social distancing rules be observed
With daily infections jumping by the dozens, the burden on Hong Kong’s health care system can only be imagined. Among the most recent people to have tested positive for Covid-19 are some who live in subdivided units with poor hygiene. Twelve patients were still awaiting admission to hospital yesterday because of a shortage of beds, and this underlines the need for improved contingency measures to be put in place.
Another 400 hospital beds are being converted this week for patients who have spent sufficient time in isolation, are on the road to recovery with no respiratory symptoms or diarrhoea, and awaiting tests before being discharged. However, as prudent as it may appear, moving patients to these “second-tier” isolation beds is still not ideal. Recent waves of imported and local infections have pushed the number of confirmed cases to more than 700, and the health care system has come under tremendous pressure.
Experts have suggested low-risk patients be sent to government quarantine facilities or back home for periods of self-isolation. Understandably, residents may feel uneasy when they find out their neighbours are potentially infectious. However, given the acute situation and the limited capacity of health services, this could very well be an option should the outbreak worsen. But even then authorities must carefully decide when such a move will apply and ensure it only covers those who pose a low risk to the community.
The strategy, ultimately, is to break the infection chain by strictly observing quarantine and social distancing. The rules on social distancing will play a vital role in the coming weeks, but will only prove effective if everyone plays their part.
The jailing of three people on Monday, with sentences ranging from 10 days to three months, for violating quarantine orders is a timely reminder of the severity of such actions. It is also good to see police enforcing the new restrictions on public gatherings as well as measures at bars and restaurants. The somewhat belated steps by the government to curb hundreds of infections arising from those returning to the city from now badly hit countries means everyone has to pay a higher price in the struggle.