Isolation capacity to be enhanced

February 15, 2022

(To watch the full media session with sign language interpretation, click here.)

 

Chief Executive Carrie Lam said today the Government will strive to enhance the capacity of community isolation facilities by converting newly built public rental housing and looking for more hotel rooms.

 

Ahead of the Executive Council meeting this morning, Mrs Lam said Blocks 1 and 7 of Queen's Hill Estate in Fanling as well as Heng King House, Lai King Estate will be converted to community isolation facilities providing more than 3,000 units.

 

 “One unit sometimes could accommodate a whole family, if unfortunately, members of the family are all confirmed preliminary positive for COVID-19,” Mrs Lam said.

 

She added that she is going to meet the hotel sector tomorrow to formulate a plan for the community isolation purposes.

 

“We know there are over 80,000 hotel rooms in Hong Kong but not all of them are suitable. We are looking for a wholesale block - a hotel which is occupying a whole building with a certain number of rooms because if it is too small, the operation becomes very difficult.

 

“My target is to get them to agree to a plan. It is not an individual negotiation, which has been the modus operandi previously - we approached individual hotels one by one, and discussed the terms and conditions with them one by one. That is not efficient anymore.

 

“We will do a wholesale plan and require them to sign on the plan so as to deliver a few thousand, up to 10,000 rooms within a very short period.”

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