Another 2,000 Quarantine Units Aimed At Penny's Bay

Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Sunday that the government is planning to build another 2,000 quarantine units in Lantau, saying experts have warned that there is a possibility of another Covid wave during the winter season.

Initially, the government’s plan was to build a total of 1,500 units at Penny’s Bay, which was an area earmarked for future expansion of Hong Kong Disneyland and was lying vacant for years.

Seven hundred units are to go on stream there this week. Lam said apart from that, an additional 800 will be ready there by the end of September.

She said the government has now decided to provide 3,500 quarantine units at Penny's Bay by the end of the year, so that Hong Kong is more capable of coping with future waves of the epidemic. She added that some experts believed this could happen in winter.

Lam said the government is still studying how many beds can be accommodated at the AsiaWorld-Expo and whether it can be used as a community isolation facility if necessary. 

She said they are studying the feasibility of using the expo in case of emergency situations, like mass outbreaks in elderly care homes or a hospital that has to be shut down for deep cleansing.

The CE said the Lei Yue Mun holiday village will soon be used by the Hospital Authority as quarantine centre for Covid patients with mild or no symptoms, or those in stable conditions.