Coronavirus: Hong Kong civil servants to be deployed as part of lockdown, isolation measures to help combat fifth wave, sources say

List of civil servants from various departments expected to be announced on Monday, with deployment to last for three months; city confirms 6,063 infections

Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, 3,000 public rental flats set to be converted into isolation facilities, sources add

3-MIN READ3-MIN

Civil servants head to work at Central Government Offices. Hong Kong civil servants will be enlisted for three months to help the city’s Covid-19 fight, sources have said. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Published: 3:50pm, 19 Feb 2022Updated: 10:57pm, 19 Feb 2022

Hong Kong civil servants from various departments will be deployed as part of the government’s lockdown and isolation arrangements to combat the worsening coronavirus crisis, the Post has learned.

The assignment would last for three months and the list of civil servants to be deployed was expected to be announced internally by the departments on Monday, sources said, adding that top officials had mapped out the plan during a meeting on Friday.

Hong Kong confirmed 6,063 coronavirus infections and reported another 7,400 preliminary-positive cases on Saturday. The latest infections brought the overall tally to 46,763 confirmed cases, with 280 related deaths.

The government has been trying to find extra facilities and manpower to cope with rising lockdown orders and a surge in the number of patients needing to be isolated.

About 24,700 people who tested positive were still waiting for admission to isolation at public facilities as of Saturday, while lockdowns were imposed on eight areas across Hong Kong in the past seven days for compulsory testing.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor also revealed on Thursday that the government was considering conducting citywide universal testing in a bid to detect more positive cases as the city battled its fifth wave of infections.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam. Photo: May Tse

Hong Kong on Saturday started building Covid-19 isolation facilities at the deserted Kai Tak Cruise Terminal and expanding existing facilities in Penny’s Bay, providing 10,000 community quarantine and treatment units.