Officials announce transport, testing changes

Officials said on Saturday that they’re taking steps to reduce a bottleneck in taking Covid patients to hospitals and isolation facilities while also setting a higher threshold for mandatory testing as the SAR’s biggest Covid wave continues.

Amid concerns that some people diagnosed with Covid have spent days waiting at home, officials said larger vehicles would be deployed to take them for treatment or isolation.

The controller of the Centre for Health Protection, Edwin Tsui, said the transport strategy was being revised.

“Previously, we used one ambulance to transport one patient,” he told a media briefing. “However, since we have so many cases now, we need to make some revision. If we continue to deploy one ambulance for each patient, it’s difficult to quickly admit all of them.

“We need to revise the strategy while ensuring infection control. We plan to use larger vehicles,” he said.

Tsui advised people who have to wait at home to be admitted to adopt infection control measures.

He said family members could wear face masks at home, avoid eating together and disinfect the toilet with chlorine tablets after it’s used by the patient.

Meanwhile, the CHP has revised the threshold for imposing mandatory testing as the number of Covid cases is likely to remain at a high level

Tsui said a single case in a building would no longer be sufficient to require residents to take a test. They would only be asked to get tested if infections emerge in two units in the same building within a short period of time.