The AsiaWorld-Expo community treatment facility for COVID-19 patients first opened on Aug 1, 2020, boosting the Hospital Authority’s bed capacity. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor expressed her gratitude for the Chinese mainland medical team’s deployment and contribution at AsiaWorld-Expo Community Treatment Facility. 

“It is no easy task for these medical, nursing and allied support professionals to come to Hong Kong because they all have jobs in the medical institutions in Guangdong province. They all have families that they want to see every night. But now they are putting down all these personal aspirations and rushing to Hong Kong to help us save lives,” the chief executive said in the Friday news conference related to the pandemic.  

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Lam added that the mainland medical personnel also have to adapt to working in an unusual setting. 

Medical teams from the mainland and Hong Kong have reached consensus that they will adopt a collaboration model whereas they will have a division of labor in the treatment process 

Carrie Lam, Chief Executive, HKSAR

“They are not working in a proper hospital. They are working in a makeshift hospital at the AWE Community Treatment Facility. They are doing it in a closed loop. They can only be transported by designated buses every day between the hotel and the AWE Community Treatment Facility,” she noted. 

“Using the mainland’s very stringent public health and infection control standards, they have to work four hours in heavy gear nonstop, without even going to the toilet. I was told that four hours is the maximum tolerance of a human being in that sort of gear,” Lam said. 

The chief executive added that medical teams from the mainland and Hong Kong have reached consensus that they will adopt a collaboration model whereas they will have a division of labor in the treatment process. 

Lam expressed confidence that with the help of experienced mainland medical staff, they can reduce the number of severe COVID cases and the death toll in Hong Kong. 

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On Wednesday, around 300 mainland medical support team members arrived in Hong Kong. They were deployed at AWE Community Treatment Facility, equipped with 1,450 beds for COVID-19 patients, to provide treatment for patients who are in a stable condition and able to take care of themselves. This is integral to accelerating patient turnover as well as relieving the pressure on public hospitals. 

The mainland support team of professional was arranged by the central authorities at the Hong Kong government’s request to assist in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.