Hong Kong reopens COVID-19 isolation facility as cases spike

Hong Kong plans to reopen one of its largest COVID-19 isolation facilities amid climbing case numbers that stand at a four-month high.

“We are very concerned,” Lau Ka-hin, the Hong Kong Hospital Authority chief manager of quality and standards, said of the rate of cases, according to Bloomberg. “We’ve come to a very key moment and we are worried that the situation may deteriorate further.” 

There are 6,445 new cases in Hong Kong, 1,898 of which are being treated in hospitals, pressuring the country’s hospital system.

Of the almost 2,000 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, 25 have serious cases of the virus while an additional 36 are in critical condition and 10 are in intensive care.

Lau said at a Friday briefing that an isolation facility will open up next week, providing 200 hospital beds for COVID-19 patients and employing 100 health care workers.

He added that some services will be reduced at Hong Kong hospitals, specifically minor nonemergency services.

Bloomberg reports that more transmissible subvariants of the omicron variant of COVID-19 are contributing to the spike in Hong Kong.

The increase in cases may complicate the region’s reopening of its border with the Chinese mainland, which leadership continues to plan.