Top Doctor: Move Recovering Patients From Hospitals

A senior Hospital Authority official says there's an urgent need to consider easing the burden on hospitals by moving Covid-19 patients who are in a stable condition out to other quarantine facilities.

Owen Tsang, medical director at the authority's infectious disease centre, says hospitals still have enough facilities for now as 400 extra isolation beds are put into use, but will struggle if cases continue to increase by a double-digit figure each day.

Health authorities announced 43 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Friday, taking the total to 845.

"At the moment we are still OK with these 400 beds," Tsang said on Saturday. "We are still downloading patients to these second-line facilities.

"It really depends on the development of the outbreak. If it increases at a very rapid case then perhaps we have to consider other isolation facilities."

Tsang says new quarantine centres could be set up at convention centres such as the AsiaWorld Expo, which has been used as a testing centre for people arriving from overseas, or at sports grounds.

He said patients who were recovering from the disease were less likely to be infectious than people who are more unwell.