This file photo dated Aug 1, 2020 shows the X-ray room of a makeshift hospital for COVID-19 patients at the AsiaWorld-Expo in south China's Hong Kong. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

Hong Kong saw a drastic surge of COVID-19 infections, coupled with flus, leading to a waiting time up to eight hours in the city’s emergency wards.

In response, the Hospital Authority has taken a raft of measures to relieve the much-strained public hospitals, including adding 70 isolation beds for COVID-19 patients at the North Lantau Hospital Hong Kong Infection Control Centre, increasing the bed circulations in public hospitals and discharging COVID-19 patients under stable condition. 

The latest figure from the authority showed that, by 2:45pm on Thursday, waiting time for emergency departments at the city’s public hospitals are from over 1 hour to 8 hours, with most of them exceeding three hours

The center, which provides 70 isolation beds, will open another ward, providing in total 140 isolation beds for COVID-19 patients. The center has another eight wards standing by, which could provide approximately 720 more isolation beds. 

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The latest figure from the authority showed that, by 2:45pm on Thursday, waiting time for emergency departments at the city’s public hospitals are from over 1 hour to 8 hours, with most of them exceeding three hours. 

According to the Authority, daily admission to hospital have increased from 950 people to about 1,200 people, with a quarter of them being COVID-19 patients. On Monday, 6,600 people visited the city’s A&E departments, followed by another 6,400 people on Tuesday. 

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The utilization rate of the internal medicine ward in public hospitals exceeded 100 percent, with some reaching 120 to 130 percent. 

Simon Tang Yiu-hang, director of Cluster Services Division of the Hospital Authority, said on Wednesday that more than 2,100 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized at the moment, with growing patients infected for the second time or the third time. The severe rate was about 1.3 percent, and most of the symptoms were mild. 

Tang said that the number of influenza cases is believed to have peaked, estimating that the number of infected people in COVID-19 will continue to rise in the next few weeks. 

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Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, was also confirmed Covid-19 on Wednesday. 

The Hospital Authority will speed up the circulation of patients in public hospitals, reserve sufficient general out-patient places for COVID-19 patients, and strengthen support for residential care homes for the elderly through community assessment teams. 

Similar surge of COVID infections were also noticed in Macao as the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre of Macao announced that said that the number of infected cases in Covid-19 has been on the rise recently, appealing to residents to strengthen personal protection.   

Contact the writer at mikegu@chinadaily.com