HK May Need Temporary Hospitals: Anthony Wu

An executive for one of the private labs helping the government conduct large-scale Covid-19 tests has warned that the government may need to set up temporary hospitals if the rise in cases continues.

Anthony Wu, a director of Sunrise Diagnostic Centre, which has been tasked with testing taxi drivers and people in nursing homes for the coronavirus after a recent spike, said the government may have to look at other options to treat people.

Officials might have to consider putting milder cases in AsiaWorld Expo or the Coliseum "like what we did on the mainland or in other parts of the world when you have a really huge outbreak and the public (health) system simply cannot stand it", said Wu, who's also a former chairman of the Hospital Authority.

Speaking after appearing on a radio show, Wu also dismissed fears that information collected could be leaked.

Mainland media have reported that BGI Group had been punished in 2018 for allegedly transferring data overseas. The Shenzhen-based firm is the parent of Sunrise Diagnostic Centre.

So far as the testing lab is concerned, actually no data are collected by us. We only look at the sample (to see) whether it's positive or negative, and return the positive ones back to the Department of Health for further action and then the rest are destroyed," Wu said.

He added that the tests would be carried out in Hong Kong and would also be cheaper than existing tests.