Infected people left at home as hospitals fill up

Infected people left at home as hospitals fill up

Damon Pang reports

Health officials have revealed that more than three dozen people known to be infected with the new coronavirus are currently waiting to be admitted to hospital, as one man complained he was left for two days at home in his subdivided flat.



This comes as Hong Kong reported another 41 new virus cases on Monday, bringing the total tally to 682. Most of the new patients had been overseas recently.



A man surnamed Wong told RTHK that he was only taken to hospital on Monday, after being confirmed to have Covid-19 on Saturday.



A government website stated that he was admitted to Kwong Wah Hospital on Sunday. But Wong said he was actually still at home then with his mum in their Sham Shui Po flat, which measures less than 200 square feet.



He said that he phoned the Department of Health repeatedly while he was waiting to go into hospital, but was simply told by officials that they would find the "right colleague" to deal with his case.



At a regular news briefing, health officials did not comment when asked whether the delay in taking such patients to hospital would increase chances of a community outbreak.



But they said in Wong's case, his mother would be treated as a close contact and would be sent to a quarantine centre.



Dr Lau Ka-hin, a chief manager of the Hospital Authority, said: "Each patient will be sent to hospital according to the instruction of our Major Incident Control Centre."



"In order to have better coordination, the centre will see which hospital has a vacant bed and the capacity of each hospital, to see if it's suitable to accept the patient." he said.



Lau added that the isolation wards at some hospitals are already fully occupied, but on average across the city they are 77 percent full.



He said 39 people known to be infected with Covid-19 were currently waiting to be taken to hospital, and on average such patients have to wait for a day to be admitted.



The official said he hoped 400 beds in normal wards that were being converted into "second-tier" isolation beds would help free up space this week.