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Chief Government Carrie Lam on Wednesday introduced a slew of measures — together with changing extra wards in public hospitals for COVID-19 use — to spice up the variety of beds for sufferers with the coronavirus by round 16,000.
This comes as Hong Kong continues to grapple with a COVID-19 outbreak, which has contaminated greater than half one million individuals.
The measures embody changing 50 p.c of common inpatient beds in public hospitals for sufferers of the coronavirus. Lam stated this can generate near 9,000 beds for COVID-19 sufferers.
To make that occur, she stated she hoped non-public hospitals can absorb a few of the sufferers in public hospitals.
Lam — who made a uncommon look with a masks at a press convention — additionally stated the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Jordan will likely be became a delegated facility for the remedy of coronavirus infections.
Over the following 4 days, non-COVID-19 sufferers within the hospital will likely be transferred to different hospitals or discharged.
The Hospital Authority famous that round 250 would should be transferred to different hospitals, whereas round 130 could be discharged as they had been recovering.
The Jordan hospital won’t absorb non-COVID-19 sufferers from Wednesday, besides these in crucial situation.
The authority estimated the ability would be capable of absorb 1,500 COVID-19 sufferers.
Lam additionally stated {that a} 1,000-bed makeshift hospital on the Lok Ma Chau Loop is anticipated to start operations in phases in April.
“The next measures can enormously enhance the general public hospital’s [capacity] to take care of COVID-19 sufferers in order to make sure they won’t develop into sufferers with extreme signs due to the shortage of or well timed remedy,” she stated.
The chief government additionally stated the Hong Kong authorities had requested mainland authorities to supply healthcare employees to assist with operations at North Lantau Hospital Hong Kong An infection Management Centre and the AsiaWorld-Expo’s neighborhood remedy facility.
She added that authorities had been focusing on to have all aged in residential properties vaccinated earlier than March 18.
However the metropolis’s chief was mum about when a mandatory COVID-19 universal testing exercise will start.
Medical specialists earlier questioned the plan to conduct mass testing scheme in March, with Hong Kong not having enough amenities to isolate contaminated individuals.
Combined messages in regards to the train and a attainable lockdown additionally sparked a round of panic buying among residents.
Lam stated officers had been nonetheless planning and getting ready for the mass testing, but it surely was “not a precedence to do it now”. She added she would think about specialists’ opinions.
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