Covid Numbers To Remain High: Hospital Authority

The Hospital Authority (HA) on Wednesday said there’s been an upsurge in Covid infections, adding that numbers are likely to remain high for several weeks.

Officials said the rise in the number of coronavirus cases, coupled with a recent flu surge, have put public hospitals under strain, with over 6,000 patients visiting the accident and emergency units in each of the past two days.

The average occupancy rate of inpatient beds at the various public hospitals also exceeded 100 percent, with more than 1,200 new patients being admitted each day and around a third of the newly-admitted patients infected with Covid.

"Although there are still influenza cases, especially a month ago we saw an upsurge in influenza cases, now they seem to be settling," Owen Tsang, medical director of the HA’s Infectious Disease Centre, said.

"Comparing the two, Covid is still the most important virus and also the severity is the most important one. Now we are still seeing an uprising trend of Covid infections. We still need to manage these patients, especially [when] these patients are the elderly with multiple medical problems."

But Larry Lee, a chief manager with the authority, said the current situation is a far cry from what we saw a year ago, when Hong Kong was at the height of the fifth Covid wave.

"Their rate of needing ventilators, needing oxygen is less than before, that means the clinical severity is lower than the last wave… our hospitals can still maintain our services without much adjustment to the elective services,” Lee noted.

He added that the North Lantau Hospital Hong Kong Infection Control Centre is also providing more than 140 beds for Covid patients.