The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     In view of the recent upsurge of the COVID-19 epidemic and to tie in with the Government's strategy to fight the disease, the Hospital Authority (HA) today (November 23) announced that the Community Treatment Facility (CTF) located in AsiaWorld-Expo will be reactivated to admit patients this Wednesday (November 25).
 
     "According to the recent development of the epidemic, it is expected that a large number of patients with COVID-19 infection will be admitted to hospitals for treatment shortly. Upon the reactivation, the CTF will admit patients with relative stable condition and who are able to take care of themselves independently, so that more isolation beds can be made available at hospitals to focus resources for the care of more severely ill patients," the HA spokesperson said.
 
     "The CTF will also admit patients who have preliminarily tested positive. Patients can wait onsite at the CTF for test results and those patients who are confirmed with COVID-19 infection will be transferred to different hospitals or stay in the CTF for treatment, according to their clinical conditions."
 
     The HA will reactivate the CTF located in AsiaWorld-Expo Halls 1 and 2 at this stage. Subject to the development of the epidemic, the HA will further open Halls 8 to 11 in phases as necessary. The isolation facilities in all the halls are ready, which can provide a total of around 1,900 beds. The HA is now planning to deploy healthcare workers to the CTF for patient service.
 
     The HA will closely monitor the development of the epidemic. The HA Major Incident Control Centre will coordinate different hospitals and the CTF to admit patients as early as possible, upon receiving referrals from the Centre for Health Protection.
 

Ends/Monday, November 23, 2020
Issued at HKT 19:12

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