New mainland medical team arrives in Hong Kong to boost epidemic fight

HONG KONG -- The latest batch of the Chinese mainland medical staff on Monday arrived in Hong Kong to support the local fight against the COVID-19 epidemic.

The team includes 36 doctors and 39 nurses from 14 public hospitals in the neighboring Guangdong Province. They work in respiratory, nephrology, cardiovascular and other departments closely related to the treatment of elderly patients.

They will participate in medical care at the community treatment facility at AsiaWorld-Expo. Patients admitted to this facility are predominantly elderly and most have underlying diseases. The mainland medical staff will work to reduce the number of severe and fatal cases.

Chui Tak-yi, under secretary for food and health of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, said the fifth wave of the epidemic in Hong Kong is very serious and there is an urgent need to prevent a large number of patients from developing into serious illnesses.

He said the 75 experienced mainland medical and nursing staff will effectively enhance services in the community treatment facility so that patients can receive better care.

On Monday, Hong Kong registered 12,040 new COVID-19 cases by nucleic acid tests, and 14,868 additional positive cases through self-reported rapid antigen tests, official data showed.