Hong Kong continues to struggle with rising Covid-19 infections, although the pace of increase has slowed somewhat in the past week, compared to previous ones. Health authorities reported 4,886 new cases, 248 of which were imported, and five additional deaths on Thursday. The city’s Covid-19 tally stands at 1,339,793 cases, with 9,492 related fatalities.

‘Covid drug distribution for elderly must double’; Hong Kong logs 4,276 cases

A command structure office, headed by the health chief, will study, recommend and take forward anti-epidemic proposals and measures. Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau will also be responsible for liaising with different bureaus and departments to “solve problems together”.

Among the 13 task forces already established are those assigned with overseeing quarantine hotels, testing, vaccination and liaison with mainland Chinese authorities.

Earlier on Thursday, Professor Lau Yu-lung, who chairs the government’s Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases, expressed his support for a plan to lower the minimum age for receiving a coronavirus jab to below three years old ahead of a meeting next week to discuss the matter.

Under current rules, anyone aged five or above can receive a German-made BioNTech jab, while the Chinese-made Sinovac shot is available to those aged three or above.

The backing by the committee chairman came as officials revealed a 22-month-old girl who had contracted Covid-19 was in a critical condition less than 24 hours after the toddler first showed signs of symptoms.

“As vaccination is not available for those under three years of age, it is quite dangerous for them in Hong Kong. Of course, there are not many severe cases, but one is too many,” Lau said at a government press conference, who was speaking in a personal capacity.

Lau added that his committee and another body specialising in emerging and zoonotic diseases would jointly decide on whether to drop the local inoculation age next week.

Health officials also provided further information on the 22-months-old girl in critical condition, who had a fever of 41.4 degrees Celsius and suffered a seizure on Wednesday night.

She was admitted to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital on Wednesday and put on a ventilator and given cardiotonic medicine in a bid to keep her heart strong. Brain scans showed inflammation, but the girl did not have pneumonia, according to Lau. She was believed to have been infected by her foreign domestic worker who tested positive on Thursday, but her family members tested negative.

Since January, 19 children aged two or under had become severely or critically ill or had died after contracting the virus, while 15 between three and four, and 20 between five and 11 were in similar conditions. Authorities did not provide a full breakdown of the figures.

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Earlier on Thursday, Hong Kong Private Hospitals Association Chairman William Ho Shiu-wei said that among 364 beds provided by the private sector for non-Covid patients use in an initial stage, only 24 from CUHK Medical Centre would be designated for Covid-19 patients as the facility was new and could be remodelled.

“Many private hospitals have invited engineers from the Hospital Authority to look at their situation. If the hospitals are not designed to accept Covid-19 patients, it is relatively difficult for them to do so,” he told a radio show.

The government had earlier said that all 13 of the city’s private hospitals would be able to provide a total of 1,000 beds at most to the Hospital Authority amid a rebound in Covid-19 infections, with 364 available in the first phase.

Tim Pang Hung-cheong, a patients’ rights campaigner at the Society for Community Organisation, said more non-coronavirus cases should be referred to private hospitals to reduce delays in non-emergency services.

“I hope that there will be more beds in addition to the 300 beds,” he told the same radio show.

The Hospital Authority also announced it would tighten public hospital visiting requirements from August 1, with arrivals required to present a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result taken up to 48 hours earlier.

Anyone visiting on an emergency or compassionate basis would still be allowed to show a rapid antigen test (RAT) result taken no more than 24 hours before entry, it said, but would also be required to submit a PCR test result afterward.

Pang said hospital visits had resumed after a suspension during the fifth wave, but were limited to one- to two-hour sessions per week, suggesting more could be allowed under the stricter testing requirements.

“But what people are more concerned with is whether they can visit family members more frequently,” he said. “Compared to the past, some of them would visit and take care of family members daily for three to six hours. The current practice cannot satisfy their needs.”

Separately, the Social Welfare Department on Thursday said it had in mid-July launched another round of outreach vaccination services – lasting six weeks – at care homes to achieve a third-dose jab rate of at least 50 per cent for such residents before the end of September.

At present, 93, 87 and 40 per cent of care home residents have received their first, second and third vaccine doses respectively.

Additional reporting by Harvey Kong