Hong Kong third wave: resort to become isolation facility for younger and healthier Covid-19 patients, AsiaWorld-Expo to be treatment centre
- Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village in Chai Wan to be operational in a day and take in some 30 younger patients from city’s strained health care system
- Part of AsiaWorld-Expo, currently a testing site for airport arrivals, could become treatment facility to house patients
A new community isolation facility in Hong Kong to house younger and healthier Covid-19 patients will be launched on Friday, as authorities also revealed plans to convert part of a major exhibition venue into a treatment centre to ease pressure on the city’s public hospitals.
Amid a third wave of coronavirus infections battering the city, the site is expected to take in about 30 patients from the city’s strained health care system on its first day of operations.
Those who are under the age of 50, with no symptoms or only mild ones and who are capable of looking after themselves, could be ferried by paramedics from their respective hospitals to the new facility, which will be run by 23 nurses and six doctors in an initial phase, according to Lee.
“Patients have to have their fever down for more than 48 hours. They need to be mobile and in good health. They should also not have any long-term disease or diarrhoea,” added the deputy chief executive at Tin Shui Wai Hospital.
Lee also said part of the AsiaWorld-Expo, an exhibition centre near the airport currently used to hold incoming travellers waiting for Covid-19 test results, could possibly be transformed into a treatment facility. But he said the plan was not yet cast in stone. He did not reveal details on treatments to be provided.
On Thursday, the daily infection count hit a new record of 118, setting a high for the second day running, with the 15th patient dying. The city’s overall tally stood at 2,249 with 15 related deaths.