Isolation Rules Changed As HK Adds 6,116 Infections

Health authorities on Thursday reported 6,116 new coronavirus infections and 24 more deaths, as they further relaxed the discharge criteria for Covid patients in isolation facilities in the hope of freeing up places.

The city also has another 6,300 preliminary positive cases.

Under Secretary for Health Chui Tak-yi said people can be discharged from isolation facilities if they test negative for the virus seven days after their first positive test, and they could then isolate at home as long as they don't live with elderly people, pregnant women or chronically ill patients with low immunity.

He added that people who had been undergoing self-isolation at home for 14 days, or in a facility for a week and at home for a week, would be considered as having no infection risk if they test negative for the virus and would therefore be free to go out.

Chui sidestepped questions on whether the government is planning mandatory universal testing.

He said while previous overnight lockdowns for testing had achieved good results, "whether the scale or scope will be modified to suit the situation that's upcoming, we will announce it in due course."

Of the 24 deaths, a chief manager of the Hospital Authority, Dr Sara Ho, said 15 of the patients had passed away in the past 24 hours.

Nine patients died between February 11 and 15, but there were delays in reporting, she added.

Meanwhile, Ho said some care homes sent elderly people to public hospitals but refused to take them back after doctors assessed the patients and decided they could be discharged.

She appealed to care homes to take back the elderly patients, saying otherwise there would be an extra burden on public hospitals.

Ho said authorities would provide the necessary support to the care homes.

She said close to 5,000 people with Covid are currently in public hospitals and isolation facilities.

More than a dozen of them are critically ill, while more than 60 are in a serious condition, she added.

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Last updated: 2022-02-17 HKT 21:15

USEFUL LINKS General Covid-19 situation: https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/

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