'Public Hospitals Are Ready For More Covid Patients'

The Hospital Authority said on Monday that it's well-prepared to treat more Covid patients if necessary, as Hong Kong logged more than a thousand new infections for a sixth straight day.

Officials reported 1,327 new coronavirus infections for the day – 141 of which were imported. One more Covid patient has died.

A chief manager with the authority, Sara Ho, said although there's so far been no sign of a surge in the number of patients requiring isolation or intensive care, public hospitals are prepared to receive thousands more patients if needed.

“In the past two weeks, we've seen a small rising trend in the number of infections. That's why we directed our clusters to be prepared. In the event the Covid situation becomes severe, we can have our beds waiting for patients,” she told a daily press conference.

The Centre for Health Protection, for its part, said schools have reported more than 400 cases, but around 300 of them were from the weekend or earlier.

The centre’s Chuang Shuk-kwan said six more classes from six schools have to be suspended, adding that the school suspension mechanism has been effective in reining in transmissions.

"There's no spread of cases throughout schools. You can imagine, although we have several hundreds infections from schools, but only 100 or so came from Monday morning," Chuang said.

"In total, around 800,000 students and teachers get tested every day, but only six schools have classes that need to be suspended."

She added that officials are investigating an outbreak at an elderly home in Ngau Tau Kok, after five residents came down with the virus. More than forty people have to be sent into quarantine.

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