The community isolation facility in Yuen Long upon completion on Thursday as it was handed over for operation. (LI ZHIHUA / CHINA NEWS SERVICE)
The sixth COVID-19 isolation facility built with the central government’s support was handed over to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government and came into use on Thursday.
The first phase of the community isolation facility in Yuen Long’s Tam Mei provides 2,367 isolation wards with over 9,400 beds. Along with the other five facilities that have been built with the central government’s support, about 20,000 beds in total will be available for patients.
Two other projects — in Penny’s Bay and Kai Tak — are both expected to be completed later, and will provide an additional 20,000 beds, while facilities at Lok Ma Chau Loop are also under construction, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said
The second and third phases of the Yuen Long facility are expected to come into operation on Saturday and Monday respectively, significantly enhancing Hong Kong’s capacity for receiving patients, Tan Tieniu, deputy chief of the central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong, said at the launching ceremony.
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Tan said Hong Kong’s pandemic situation is still serious and at a critical moment of implementing the strategy of “three reductions, three focuses and one priority”. “Three reductions” refers to reducing deaths, severe cases and infections; “three focuses” means taking precise and powerful measures on key groups of people, organizations, and premises; “one priority” targets the elderly. The liaison office will continue to support the SAR government to take on its responsibility in the anti-pandemic fight and get the city out of the difficulty, he said.
Two other projects — in Penny’s Bay and Kai Tak — are both expected to be completed later, and will provide an additional 20,000 beds, while facilities at Lok Ma Chau Loop are also under construction, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said.
The fifth wave has been raging through Hong Kong over the past two months, and has strained the city’s capacity to contain it, but the central government has been responsive to the city’s needs, she said.
Lam expressed her gratitude to the central government and construction teams, saying construction of the isolation facilities has progressed well at this stage and is a remarkable move for the architecture industry in Hong Kong.
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The city has sufficient medical resources and the confidence to contain the epidemic with the support of the central government, she added.
Hong Kong registered 13,074 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, including over 7,300 self-reported cases detected through rapid antigen tests.
