First Mainland Health Officials To Arrive On Sunday

A group of seven mainland health officials will arrive in Hong Kong on Sunday as the first members of a 60-strong team that will assist with testing for Covid-19 in the SAR.

National health officials made the announcement on Saturday as Chief Executive Carrie Lam raised the possibility that everyone in Hong Kong could be tested for Covid-19.

Beijing's National Health Commission said the officials involved in testing would be drawn from public hospitals in Guangdong province.

It said a further team of six specialists from Wuhan who were involved in setting up a temporary hospital there would arrive to assist with preparing part of the AsiaWorld Expo convention centre as a facility for Covid-19 patients.

Speaking in a Commercial Radio interview, Lam said the SAR government had asked for help from the central authorities amid a recent spike in Covid-19 cases.

She said the government was studying whether testing could be expanded on a large scale, including whether everyone in Hong Kong could be tested, as had happened in some mainland cities.

Meanwhile the Hospital Authority said on Saturday that two more Covid-19 patients died overnight, bringing the total number of fatalities linked to the coronavirus to 29.

They were a 79-year-old man who was being treated at Queen Elizabeth Hospital and an 89-year-old woman who was in Tuen Mun Hospital. Both had chronic illnesses.

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