People wear facemasks as a precautionary measure against coronavirus infection, as they walk near the check in counters at Hong Kong International Airport on March 24, 2020. (ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP)
HONG KONG - The government said it would close down the coronavirus testing center near the airport because of the sharp fall in arrivals as the city recorded two new cases on Saturday, a low single-digit increase for seven days in a row. The city's infection tally stood at 1,023.
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At a daily press conference on Saturday, Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said both patients of both new cases had a travel history outside the city.
Due to the declining number of inbound visitors, the government will suspend the temporary testing center at AsiaWorld Expo from Sunday noon so as to "refocus manpower resources to hospital services"
One of them is a four-year-old girl who has been put in a government quarantine camp with her father. Her mother was confirmed to have been infected earlier after returning from the UK. The girl had a runny nose on Thursday.
Another patient is a 29-year-old student who studied in the Philippines. He returned to the city on Friday and was tested positive after submitting his sample to the temporary testing center at AsiaWorld-Expo near the airport.
The Hospital Authority said nine patients have remained in critical condition, while 35 had been discharged from hospitals in the past 24 hours.
Due to “the declining number of inbound visitors, the government announced the suspension of the temporary testing center at AsiaWorld Expo from Sunday noon to “refocus manpower resources to hospital services”.
Since March 20, two tentative testing centers were established at AsiaWorld-Expo and North Lantau Hospital respectively for early identification and triage of the infection to cope with the large number of residents returning from Europe and the US.
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In a statement, the Hospital Authority said the pre-hospital test service has played an important diversion role by reducing the number of suspected patients admitted to the hospitals for testing and alleviating the demand for first-tier isolation beds.
Of the over 1,400 specimens collected at the two test centers, about 100 confirmed cases were identified. On-the-spot testing has reduced the number of suspected patients admitted to the hospitals by 1,300, leaving more public hospital isolation facilities for confirmed cases, according to the statement.
