CE inspects quarantine and community treatment facilities
29.9.2020

The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, visited Penny's Bay and AsiaWorld-Expo (AWE) on Lantau Island this afternoon (September 29) to inspect various COVID-19 quarantine and community treatment facilities (CTF) as well as a temporary hospital, which is being constructed on a piece of land adjacent to AWE. During the visit she learned more about the completed projects and the progress of ongoing works. Mrs Lam, accompanied by the Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, and the Under Secretary for Development, Mr Liu Chun-san, inspected the newly completed Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre Phase 2. She toured some units, including a barrier-free unit, the medical post and the command post, and was briefed by the staff members on the construction and management of the quarantine centre. She was pleased to note that the construction of phases 3 and 4 of the quarantine centre is making good progress and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. By that time, a total of 3 500 units would be available at the quarantine centre. Together with other quarantine centres, there will be more than 4 000 units in total across the territory. Mrs Lam and the other officials then departed for AWE where she was briefed by staff members of the Architectural Services Department and the contractor on the temporary hospital to be built adjacent to AWE. Adopting the technology of modular integrated construction, the project is expected to be completed in about four months, and pre-construction preparatory work on the site is underway. The project, on completion, is expected to provide negative pressure wards that can accommodate over 800 beds and related medical facilities, significantly increasing the number of negative pressure beds that can be provided by the Hospital Authority. Mrs Lam then inspected the construction work of the CTF expansion at Hall 8 to Hall 11 of AWE, including the newly built enclosed cubicle and the medical command post. Hall 1 and Hall 2 of AWE were retrofitted with a CTF of 900 beds earlier, which currently serves as a backup given the easing of the epidemic situation. The expansion work at Hall 8 to Hall 11 is expected to be completed in about four weeks and provide an addition of some 1 000 beds. Mrs Lam praised the construction team for their ongoing hard work in overcoming various challenges of the project to meet the needs of the new treatment facilities. Mrs Lam proceeded to inspect the quarantine facility of the Social Welfare Department at Hall 5 of AWE. Together with those at Hall 3, Hall 6 and Hall 7, there are a total of 640 beds in the facility, which can be used by residents of the residential care homes for the elderly and residential care homes for persons with disabilities for quarantine purposes if needed. Mrs Lam thanked the Central Government for supporting Hong Kong to expand the CTF and build a temporary hospital, as well as the Guangdong Provincial Government and the Shenzhen Municipal Government for assisting with the implementation of the two projects, thereby considerably raising the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s capability to cope with the epidemic in the future. She also praised colleagues from the relevant departments and contractors for their devotion and high efficiency, and for striving to build more quarantine and treatment facilities together. "Although the epidemic situation in Hong Kong has slightly eased recently, there are risks of another wave in the future. The Government will stay vigilant and is using the time to review comprehensively all prevention and control measures, including preparing more quarantine and treatment facilities, to cope with the epidemic more effectively in the future. I appeal to members of the public to continue to fully comply with various social distancing measures, in particular with the approach of the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival long holidays. They should maintain the awareness of epidemic prevention and maintain personal and environmental hygiene at all times to reduce the risk of the spread of the virus," Mrs Lam said. Ends/Tuesday, September 29, 2020 Issued at HKT 20:38 NNNN