Coronavirus: Hong Kong volunteer group’s support drive helps more than 700 care homes, 30,000 children with supplies, vaccination
- Hong Kong Volunteers Against Coronavirus has distributed supplies to more than 60,000 elderly residents, 10,000 staff at 763 care facilities since it was set up on March 7
- About 31,700 children aged three to 11 vaccinated in more than 120 sessions
A volunteer group has donated anti-epidemic supplies, including some given by the central government, to more than 700 homes for the elderly and vaccinated over 30,000 children in Hong Kong since its establishment in March.
Kazaf Tam Chun-kwok, convenor of a support programme launched by the Hong Kong Volunteers Against Coronavirus to help homes for the elderly, said on Wednesday the group had helped more than 60,000 older residents and 10,000 staff by distributing supplies to 763 care facilities as of Sunday.
“After the concerted efforts of the community, we have completed phase one of the elderly home supplies support programme and achieved expected results,” he said.
“We would like to thank the central government for offering a large amount of anti-epidemic supplies, as well as the community for their active participation.”
Tam added that the supplies included a total of 1.64 million masks, 730,000 rapid antigen test (RAT) kits, more than 50,000 boxes of Chinese medicine such as Jinhua Qinggan Keli, 36,000 pieces of protective clothing and more than 1,400 oximeters.
The group recruited more than 130 volunteers online to take part in the management, packaging and delivery of supplies, Tam said, adding that it had “established a strong network of volunteers in 18 districts, with a total of more than 1,800 volunteers”.
Tam said more than 500 volunteers, including government officials and lawmakers, joined in to provide help to 155 care homes on March 7 and 10.