The central government-aided facility to provide 1,000 wards

Workers put the isolation units in place at the construction site of the Central Government-Aided Emergency Hospital in Lok Ma Chau on Saturday. The first phase of the hospital began trial runs and tests on Tuesday. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

The first phase of the Central Government-Aided Emergency Hospital in Lok Ma Chau started integrated commissioning and testing on Tuesday after it was fully powered on, bringing it a step closer to completion.

The hospital, which is being built in two phases, will provide 1,000 negative-pressure isolation wards. Another mobile-cabin isolation facility will also be built with assistance from the central government next to the hospital to help Hong Kong battle its worst-ever wave of the COVID-19 outbreak.

READ MORE: Emergency hospital starts construction in Lok Ma Chau

Construction of the first phase, providing 500 beds, began on March 6 and is expected to be completed within a total of 30 days, on April 5, marking a milestone for constructing a megaproject in such a short period of time. 

Construction of the hospital, on land with fish ponds, has faced great challenges as it is like “building a house on a tofu”. 

A temporary bridge connecting the land with Shenzhen was built before construction began to help facilitate the movement of construction equipment, materials and personnel. At the peak of construction, over 14,000 people involved in the project had to stay in makeshift tents erected at the site in order to beat the clock. 

Also on Tuesday, a seven-member delegation of the mainland’s leading traditional Chinese medicine experts from Guangzhou of Guangdong province, Shanghai and Beijing, arrived in Hong Kong. The team was led by Tong Xiaolin, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

When welcoming the arrival of the delegation at the Shenzhen Bay Port, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said the use of traditional Chinese medicine has proven to be “very effective” in the treatment of COVID-19 cases in the mainland, and it should help the special administrative region government achieve its goal of preventing critical illnesses and deaths.

Traditional Chinese medicine has also been found to be very helpful to patients during rehabilitation and recuperation, Lam said. She added that the TCM treatment is expected to speed up the recovery of those no longer infected, especially the elderly.

The delegation members will visit community isolation facilities, elderly care homes and communities, Tong told the press in front of the hotel where the experts are staying.

Besides working with the government on COVID-19 treatments, the panel will also meet with local TCM practitioners to discuss the future development of the TCM industry in Hong Kong.

Speaking to China Daily the day before arriving in Hong Kong, Tong said TCM prevented mild and moderate cases from worsening into severe infections, and improved the clinical symptoms of patients with a fever, cough and fatigue.

“It can reduce mortality rates and alleviate illness from severe to mild,” he said. For patients in rehabilitation, TCM accelerates the recovery of lung functions and improves the quality of life, he added.

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Deputy head of the TCM delegation, Zhang Zhongde, is among the 300-member mainland medical worker team who arrived in the city in mid-March. Zhang has been working in the community treatment facility at the AsiaWorld-Expo along with nearly 20 TCM doctors from the mainland.

The city recorded 7,596 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the city’s tally during the current fifth wave of infections to 1.13 million.

Contact the writers at xinwen@chinadaily.com.cn