(To watch the full press briefing with sign language interpretation, click here.)

The Hospital Authority today said it is working on various plans to ensure it can provide enough isolation beds to accommodate the increasing number of COVID-19 cases.

The authority’s Chief Manager (Quality & Standards) Dr Lau Ka-hin emphasised that even though there are more than 1,000 isolation beds, not all of them are being used to treat those infected with the virus.

"(As) for isolation beds, yes, we are running out of isolation beds because (for) the 1,033 isolation beds (that we have) - some of them are in the intensive care units, in pediatric units and general wards - not (all) are (being) used for the purpose of isolating patients with COVID-19.

"Up to 3pm, there are four confirmed cases that are waiting to go to hospitals for treatment."

Dr Lau explained that second-tier isolation wards are currently being set up to free up space for new cases.

"We are preparing the second-tier isolation wards now. We hope that patients can be transferred from the first-tier isolation wards to the second-tier isolation wards in order to retain more beds and more room in first-tier isolation facilities to accommodate the confirmed cases."

Dr Lau added that the authority is looking at alternative locations for setting up more isolation facilities.

"There is no definite plan. We are looking for any kind of possible facilities which can help the Hospital Authority to accommodate the recovering confirmed cases so that we can have more isolation facilities inside the hospitals."