Govt sends Covid hospital news via emergency alert

The government sent out its first city-wide emergency alert on Wednesday evening to announce that the Queen Elizabeth Hospital has been converted into a designated Covid-19 hospital.

The alert, which popped up on mobile devices at around 6pm, advises non-Covid patients not to go to the hospital, and stresses that its A&E department will only admit patients who have the virus or who are otherwise in a life-threatening condition.

This is the first time the government has used the system since its launch in 2020, when officials said it may be used in emergency situations to inform the public to take contingency measures.

Examples they cited included extreme weather events, major public safety incidents and large-scale public health emergency situations.

The Honorary President of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, Francis Fong, said he had called for use of the alert service before now but that he would leave it to the government to explain whether Wednesday’s announcement warranted such use.

He told RTHK: “For example, if we are going to have compulsory testing for all Hong Kong citizens, if the citizens need to register through a certain website, I think it should be broadcast so that most of the Hong Kong citizens should know where to go and how they can register.”

“But for [Wednesday’s] message, whether it is emergency or not, I will leave it for the government to explain why they want to send the message about the hospital.”

Fong added that there are ways that authorities can limit alerts to certain populations. For example, a cell broadcast system could be used to only send messages to people in a certain area, such as Kowloon.

He also urged people not to turn off the emergency alert notification function on their mobile devices.

“It is actually for emergency cases, like we had a very big typhoon several years ago that caused a lot of damage. I think it would be very good to serve for those purposes,” he said.

“After this time, citizens will know what it is … and the government should make good use of this system.”