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

The Hospital Authority today explained that with the number of COVID-19 cases increasing daily, those severely ill are considered top priority when it comes to admitting patients to the hospital.

Hospital Authority Chief Manager (Patient Safety & Risk Management) Dr Sara Ho told reporters at a press briefing this afternoon that there were around 100 confirmed COVID-19 patients waiting to be admitted to the Hospital Authority hospitals.

“At the same time, we have already transferred around 200 patients to the second-tier isolation wards. We also have 101 patients who have been transferred to the Lei Yue Mun community isolation facility.

"We hope to transfer improving or recovering patients to second-tier beds and also the Lei Yue Mun community isolation facility so as to free up first-tier isolation beds to admit the newly diagnosed patients.”

Dr Ho emphasised that the authority is closely communicating with its Centre for Health Protection colleagues to ensure severely ill patients are the first to be admitted to hospitals.

“For less symptomatic patients, they may need to wait a bit longer. So we appeal to the understanding of the community. As we have quite a number of confirmed patients in the last few days, we need more time to transfer and mobilise beds to admit the patients."