The Fangcang hospital on Tsing Yi Island begins operation on Feb 28, 2022. It’s the first of nine community isolation and treatment facilities built with mainland expertise to help Hong Kong fight the raging fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. (EDMOND TANG / CHINA DAILY)

HONG KONG – More Chinese mainland enterprises are reaching out to Hong Kong to help the city combat the worst wave of the pandemic on record, with CIMC Modular Building System building more than 5,000 modular isolation and quarantine units to help ease the heavy burden on local hospitals. 

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government has put nearly 5,200 modular quarantine units, built by the Jiangmen, Guangdong province-based company, into use for receiving close contacts and their household contacts. These include the Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre and the Pat Heung Junior Police Call Permanent Activity Centre. 

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As a business unit of Shenzhen-based energy equipment supplier CIMC Group, CIMC-MBS is one of the largest providers of modular buildings and modular systems in the world. 

The first temporary community isolation and treatment facility in Tsing Yi, built with the help of the mainland, was completed on Monday 

Instead of doing all the construction work on-site, which is normally the case for traditional buildings, modular buildings allow the majority of the building project to be finished in the factory, significantly shortening construction time and reducing construction waste.  

The modular building provider has also helped build five temporary vaccination centers in Hong Kong for emergency use. The modules were completed and sent to the city on Thursday. 

The number of new COVID-19 cases hit another record high of 34,466 on Monday, with 87 new deaths. 

The worsening pandemic has left the city’s public hospitals overflowing with COVID-19 patients since the fifth wave of the outbreak, while community isolation and treatment facilities are in short supply. 

Speaking in a televised statement on Monday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said the government was making every effort to set up more isolation facilities.  

It is estimated that more than 70,000 units or beds will be provided as the city will undergo universal testing in March. The first temporary community isolation and treatment facility in Tsing Yi, built with the help of the mainland, was completed on Monday after a week of construction.

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Meanwhile, a team of five mainland medical experts led by Liang Wannian, leader of the National Health Commission’s COVID Response Expert Team, arrived on Monday afternoon to assist Hong Kong in the fight against the pandemic. 

Contact the writer at suzihan@chinadailyhk.com