More than 1,000 Covid-19 patients are now being treated at Hong Kong’s public hospitals, a top official of the Hospital Authority said on Wednesday as she described the situation as “worrying.”

A Hong Kong public hospital. File Photo: GovHK.

The Chief Manager (Patient Safety and Risk Management) of the Hospital Authority Sara Ho revealed at the regular Covid briefing on Wednesday afternoon that there were 160 new admissions of Covid-19 patients that day.

“We will mobilise more beds and manpower, as well as adjust our services to ensure that public hospitals have sufficient equipment and staff to take care of admitted patients,” Ho said.

At the same press meeting the day before, Ho said the number of hospitalised Covid-19 patients had “inevitably had an impact” on the healthcare system. Some hospitals were forced to perform fewer non-urgent surgeries, such as endoscopy services, elective cardiac interventions and surgeries for benign tumours.

Earlier on Monday, Ho said that the Hospital Authority had already sought to enact emergency plans.

According to Ho, over 2,000 beds can be put into service at the city’s public hospitals within 48 hours if needed, whereas a total of around 5,000 beds can be mobilised to treat Covid-19 patients within a week.

On Wednesday, Hong Kong reported 3,154 new Covid-19 infections, of which 211 were imported. There were also two more related deaths.

In all, the city has registered 1,279,840 Covid-19 cases and 9,422 casualties since the beginning of the pandemic two years ago.

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Peter Lee

Peter Lee is a reporter for HKFP. He was previously a freelance journalist at Initium, covering political and court news. He holds a Global Communication bachelor degree from CUHK.