Coronavirus: Hong Kong crosses new threshold with 2,000 suspected cases, while officials ‘considering district lockdowns’
- Government announces 1,347 confirmed cases and lowering of age for Sinovac vaccine to age three
- Authorities considering rolling lockdowns based on districts, with each area possibly broken up into small sections for mass testing, source says
To boost the vaccination drive, the government also announced that children as young as three would be allowed this week to receive the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine against the coronavirus.
But with the health care system strained to the limits, the provision of non-emergency services such as consultations and check-ups would be drastically cut back, Dr Larry Lee Lap-yip, a chief manager at the Hospital Authority, revealed.
“The number of confirmed and preliminary-positive Covid-19 cases has seriously exceeded the capacity that we can tolerate at hospitals,” he said. “Our current isolation facilities are also full.”
To prevent the health care system from collapsing, the authority would reserve isolation beds for children, the elderly and patients in serious condition, Lee said. All patients who were in stable condition at North Lantau Hospital Hong Kong Infection Control Centre would be moved in phases to the AsiaWorld-Expo facility.