Coronavirus: Hong Kong public hospitals brace for workers’ strike
- Bulk of frontline medical professionals are expected to carry on working, with doctors’ and nurses’ unions promising to fulfil their duties
- Hospital Authority will launch contingency plans to reduce non-essential services but warns half of all booked surgery cases may have to be postponed
Hong Kong’s public hospitals are bracing for a staffing crunch after thousands of workers vowed to push ahead with a strike starting from Monday to demand a total closure of the city’s borders with mainland China that would help shut out the new coronavirus.
But the bulk of frontline medical professionals were expected to carry on working, with doctors’ and nurses’ unions promising to fulfil their duties, while scores from the private sector volunteered to step in and help fight the pneumonia-like illness that has infected nearly 15,000 across the mainland and killed over 300.
This came as the city confirmed its 15th case of coronavirus infection on Sunday – a 72-year-old woman with an underlying illness. She was identified as the mother of the patient who became Hong Kong’s 13th confirmed case.
A resident of the crowded Whampoa Garden private housing estate in Hung Hom, she had been transferred to Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village for quarantine since February 1.
The police bomb squad had to be called to Lo Wu MTR station at the border with Shenzhen on Sunday after two improvised explosive devices in a plastic bag were found under a train seat. One caught fire and the other was defused, while services were temporarily suspended.