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

The Centre for Health Protection today advised those who are confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 to stay at home until they are admitted to hospital for treatment.

The centre’s Communicable Disease Branch Head Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan issued the advice during a press briefing this afternoon when responding to questions about a 37-year-old female patient who had left her flat in Ho Man Tin while waiting to be admitted to hospital.

Noting that the patient had left home to buy necessities to prepare for hospital admission, Dr Chuang stressed the need for confirmed cases to wait at home until transport arrives to take them to hospital.

“We usually will tell them you are a confirmed case, we are arranging for you to be isolated in the hospital, so you are advised to stay at home and wait.”

She also noted that after the patients are hospitalised, isolation orders will be issued to the hospitals to prohibit them from leaving.

“Currently, we are not issuing other legal orders for them, because we expect them to be transported to hospitals as soon as possible. And also at the present moment, we will not isolate a patient at home because if we issue an order for isolation at home, nobody can enter the home, even his/her relatives. So there is a legal issue on that part.”

There were 121 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported today, of which 118 are locally transmitted and three are imported.

When asked about the epidemic's development in the city, Dr Chuang said strenuous efforts are being made to bring it under control.

“We are still seeing over 100 cases recorded every day, so the situation is still evolving. It is very difficult to say whether it is out of control or under control - at least it is not really under control.

“But if it is out of control, the number of cases will rise very very high. So I think some of the strategies may be working, but not as we have expected.”