By The SUN
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| Free coaches to quarantine hotels will carry bigger and clearer new labels |
Health officials reported 7,579
new Covid infections on Wednesday, 161 of which were imported cases.
Ten more Covid patients with
chronic ailments, aged from 72 to 99, died the previous day. Six of them had
received a booster jab. The death toll in the fifth wave now stands at 9,617.
The number of patients
receiving treatment at public hospitals rose slightly to 2,834, and among them,
51 are in critical condition, including 13 in intensive care; while 55 have
severe symptoms.
While noting that the daily
tally has gone down in recent days, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for
Health Protection said they still need to wait if the recent holiday would lead
to a rebound in cases.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
Chuang also said the government is also
monitoring if the spread of the more transmissible Omicron BA.5 sub-variant has
peaked.
The CHP also received reports of 1,625
infections in 785 schools, involving 1,414 students and 211 teachers and staff.
Of the 161 imported cases, 56 were
detected at the airport, 43 during the three-day hotel quarantine, and 57
between days 4 and 7 of the patients’ arrival. Another five tested positive
after this period, but they are likely re-positive cases.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
The positive cases came from 42 countries,
with the following having more than 10 infections each: 24 from the United
Kingdom, 17 from the Philippines, 16 from the United States, and 11 from
Indonesia.
Meanwhile, new measures are set to be
implemented from tomorrow, Thursday, to speed up the transfer of inbound
travelers from the Hong Kong airport to their respective quarantine hotels.
At the government’s request, the Airport
Authority has made improvements at the waiting area for point-to-point transfer
services to designated quarantine hotels (DQHs), and rearranged the boarding
locations for both the free coach service and the self-paid taxis.
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Notices in both Chinese and English will
be posted at key areas in the arrival hall to help direct arriving travelers to
the waiting areas for the point-to-point transport services.
In addition, electronic display panels
will be set up to show the number of taxis waiting at the pick-up point.
Apart from this, both the free coach and
the self-paid taxis will carry new and bigger stick-on labels for easier
identification.
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| BASAHIN ANG DETALYE |
All the other anti-pandemic vehicles,
including the designated bus fleet for transporting Covid patients to the
community isolation facilities, as well the taxis that transport patients to
designated clinics, will be asked to affix new labels that clearly show their
identities.
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| This taxi that takes Covid patients to designated clinics carries the new labels |
The moves come amid sporadic complaints from inbound travelers about being made to wait for a long time to catch a taxi to their quarantine hotels, or not getting guidance on where to find them.
Some reports also said taxis meant to transport travelers to quarantine hotels or to designated clinics on an exclusive basis have been spotted taking in passengers along the way.
Separately, the Hospital Authority said in
a press statement that it continues to transfer non-Covid patients to private
hospitals to ensure the effective operation of the public healthcare system.
While the number of positive cases has
declined recently, the HA says there is still a need to monitor the pandemic
situation, especially since a lot of people might have taken part in large social
gatherings during the Mid-Autumn festival holidays.
Right now, a total of 423 beds have been
made available by 13 private hospitals for patients deemed suitable for
transfer from public hospitals, an increase of nearly 40 at the initial stage
of the scheme.
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PADALA NA!
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