(To watch the full press briefing with sign language interpretation, click here.)

The Hospital Authority will boost the supply of isolation beds to accommodate the increasing number of confirmed COVID-19 patients.

The authority’s Chief Manager (Patient Safety & Risk Management) Dr Sara Ho emphasised to the media at a press briefing this afternoon that the annual maintenance of isolation beds can be done at a later time to ensure the needs of all coronavirus patients are met.

“At the moment, we have around 1,150 first-tier isolation beds for admission of confirmed (COVID-19) cases. And under possible circumstances, we will adjust the annual preventive maintenance of the first-tier isolation beds so as to maximise available beds for the admission of confirmed cases.”

She also explained that if conditions warrant, the authority has the ability to adjust its services to concentrate its efforts on fighting the virus.

“Secondly, we will also adjust the elective or non-urgent services, so as to minimise the flow of people in hospitals and also concentrate our manpower and resources on combating the COVID-19 disease.”

In addition, as of noon today, 205 confirmed patients are currently hospitalised and 1,214 patients with confirmed or probable infections have been discharged.

For information and health advice on COVID-19, visit the Government's dedicated webpage.