Govt Agrees Services Lagged Behind In Fifth Wave

Civil Service Secretary Patrick Nip has conceded that government services were unable to keep up with demand as the fifth wave of the pandemic gripped Hong Kong.

At a Legco panel meeting on Monday, Nip faced questions from the DAB's Nixie Lam over lengthy waits for test results and reports that some people couldn't get through to support hotlines.

Nip said officials would learn from the problems they faced.

"The fifth wave came fast and furious and the cases spiked exponentially. Even though we had made some preparations, for a brief period of time we failed to cope with the demand, which led to this time lag," he said.

"This time lag had direct consequences and caused inconvenience to the public. This is a fact we need to face. We must take stock from this. I believe on each step of the way, each department must take a look at how the mechanisms and procedures can be enhanced."

The minister said 140,000 workers – around three-quarters of the civil service – have joined anti-pandemic efforts during the fifth wave of the pandemic.

He brushed aside concerns that civil servants were not deployed in the early days.

"The reason may be that the work conducted by departments isn't immediately visible to the community, and also there may be miscommunication or the spread of information has not been conducted clearly to the community," he explained.