Latest Covid Patients Deteriorating Faster: Doctor

The health of some of Hong Kong's latest coronavirus patients has been deteriorating faster than people admitted to hospital during previous waves of infections, a Hospital Authority doctor warned on Tuesday.

Kenny Chan from the authority’s coordinating committee in intensive care said he had observed that on average, patients were taken into ICU within seven to 10 days after hospitalisation in the past.

But now, but some require intensive care after just a couple of days, he told an RTHK programme.

Chan said he believes this could be the result of mutations in the virus or people lowering their guard against infection and seeking medical attention late.

He also noted that younger patients are suffering from more serious conditions, with some of those taken into intensive care this week only around 40 years old.

"In the past this was very rare," said Dr Chan. "This is especially worrisome."

He estimated that a quarter of those in intensive care at the moment are under 50 years old.

Meanwhile, the president of the Hong Kong Public Doctors' Association, Arisina Ma, warned there is a shortage of resources for handling patients in a serious condition.

Speaking on the same radio programme, Ma noted that although the Hospital Authority says it has a sufficient number of ventilators, there are not enough doctors and nurses to operate them.

"Our specialist training for ICU staff has been very backwards," she said.

Ma added that there is also a lack of space in public hospitals to accommodate ventilator treatment.

She suggested the authorities study whether to set up makeshift intensive care units outside hospitals and to recruit retired or private medical staff to work in them.