'Test Elderly For Covid Before Hospital Admission'

The chairwoman of the Hong Kong Public Doctors Association has warned that frontline medical staff at hospitals are at a risk of catching the coronavirus because a large number of cases in the current wave of infections are elderly people — some of whom are asymptomatic.

Arisina Ma suggested that elderly patients should be tested for the coronavirus first before being admitted to hospitals after the Queen Elizabeth Hospital reported a cluster of coronavirus infections involving three people.

Speaking to an RTHK radio programme on Wednesday, Ma said that the current situation was worrying as the source of infection is unknown in many cases.

Ma said during March and April when the second wave of infections hit the SAR, a large number of the confirmed cases were younger people.

She said that because elderly people often require more help from hospital staff, this puts medical staff at risk of catching the virus, especially if they are caring for an elderly asymptomatic carrier and have to clean up after them.

Ma said she was worried that there won't be enough isolation facilities for new Covid cases and warned the chance of a hospital outbreak is high if this is not resolved.

Ma also said as the cases spike, some regular wards may have to be modified if there's no more room in isolation facilities.

She also estimated that of the 400,000 people that will be covered in the government's expanded testing – covering employees of elderly care homes, restaurants and property management, as well as taxi drivers – about 1 to 2 percent of those people are likely to contract Covid-19.

Similar calls were made by Civic Party lawmaker Kwok Ka-ki – who is a practising doctor – who said steps need to be taken to make sure Covid-19 doesn't spread in hospitals.

Kwok said the Hospital Authority should stop non-emergency services to reserve beds and staff for handling the outbreak, and the quota for out patient clinic services should be increased.

He also said that Covid-19 tests should be done on some groups of people before being admitted to hospitals, including those over 65-years-old, those with chronic diseases, and pregnant women.