Hong Kong to discharge Covid-19 patients faster as health officials report more than 17,000 new infections
- Authorities to move patients in stable condition out of hospital and into community isolation facilities or their homes, health minister says
- Officials also report a record 66 fatalities related to the virus, with a teenager among them
According to Post calculations, more than 60,000 people are waiting to be admitted to either an isolation or health care facility, and the logistics of transporting them are proving an immense challenge. Some residents had been forced to wait up to 26 hours for an ambulance due to the intense demand, the Fire Services Department revealed on Saturday, noting that more than 670 first responders had either tested positive for the virus or were isolating after being deemed close contacts of cases.
Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee called the scale of the escalating wave “unprecedented” and warned the number of cases was expected to increase exponentially in the months ahead.
“We must use the coming two to three months to curb the pandemic with several measures,” she said.
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To ease the strain on the health care system, authorities were moving patients in stable condition out of hospital and into community isolation facilities or sending them back home, the minister announced. They could also be discharged if a rapid antigen test returned a negative result on the 14th day since their infection was established, she added.
Authorities also decided to end isolation of infected residents who were fully vaccinated and the close contacts of confirmed cases if they tested negative on the sixth or seventh day.