Central govt offers HK help to fight COVID-19
The central government will provide the necessary support to Hong Kong to fight COVID-19, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Friday, as the region saw a new record number of confirmed cases in a single day on Friday amid the third wave of coronavirus infections.
The NHC held a special coronavirus prevention video conference with health officials and experts from Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions (SAR) on Friday, during which NHC officials shared the prevention and control experience of the Chinese mainland and expressed their willingness to deepen cooperation with the two SARs.
The experts discussed the management of makeshift hospitals, nucleic acid testing, and community management.
Hong Kong on Friday activated a resort-converted community quarantine facility for COVID-19 patients, also known as the Hong Kong makeshift hospital.
The facility, located at Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village in Chai Wan, will accommodate recovering confirmed patients and patients in stable condition to alleviate the demand of isolation beds at public hospitals, the Hong Kong Hospital Authority told the Global Times in an email on Friday.
The facility is equipped with over 300 rooms all with baths and toilets. Twenty-three people were admitted to the quarantine facility on the first day of operations, and the Hospital Authority will continue to explore the feasibility of building more community quarantine facilities.
Hong Kong reported a record of 123 new COVID-19 cases in a single day on Friday, including 115 local cases and eight imported cases.
From July 16 to 22, the city reported a total of 543 confirmed coronavirus cases in one week, of which 481 were local cases, up from 265 confirmed cases the previous week, said Chui Tak-yi, deputy secretary of Hong Kong Food and Health Bureau on Thursday.