Hong Kong opened a temporary field hospital with 500 beds on Saturday to house stable COVID-19 patients as the city battles a new wave of virus infections.

The financial hub had been a poster child for tackling the coronavirus, with local transmissions all but ended by early summer.

But since July the pathogen has returned, with some cases brought in by the tens of thousands of people who were exempted from a mandatory quarantine imposed on most arrivals.

The opening of the hospital comes a day after city leader Carrie Lam announced the postponement of upcoming legislative elections for a year, saying the decision was purely to protect public health and had "nothing to do with politics".

More than 2,000 new infections have been detected since the start of July -- 60 percent of the total since the virus first hit the city in late January.

The new makeshift hospital set up at the city's AsiaWorld-Expo exhibition centre near the airport, will take in COVID-19 patients aged from 18 to 60.

"Our goal is to triage the patients from the community and provide them with appropriate treatment and hospitalisation arrangement," doctor Larry Lee from the Hospital Authority told media, adding that around 20 to 30 patients are expected to be admitted on the first day.

Lee said that arriving patients will go through X-rays as well as blood, saliva and heart tests. If found unstable, patients will be sent to hospitals while stable ones will get treatment and be put under medical observation at the facility.

The city recorded 125 new cases on Saturday, the 11th day in a row above 100, with total infection numbers rising to 3,396. The death toll has risen from seven to 31 since July.

China has offered to send mainland testing staff to the city to carry out "large scale nucleic acid testing".

The National Health Commission of China said in a statement it had set up a team comprised of 60 clinical laboratory staff and an "advance unit" will arrive in the city on Sunday.

Related Links
Epidemics on Earth - Bird Flu, HIV/AIDS, Ebola

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Virus clusters spread to 5 Chinese regions; HK implements restrictions
Beijing (AFP) July 28, 2020
A new coronavirus cluster in a port city in northeast China has spread to other provinces and prompted fresh restrictions, authorities said Tuesday, as Beijing scrambles to prevent a second wave of infections. China had largely brought the virus under control since it first emerged in the country late last year, through a series of strict lockdowns and travel restrictions. But in recent months a number of small outbreaks have given cause for concern, with China reporting 68 new infections on Tue ... read more