The Hospital Authority (HA) said on Monday that it is stepping up Covid test requirements for patients and its staff members to prevent outbreaks within hospitals.

The announcement came as health officials reported a cluster outbreak at the surgical ward of Shatin Hospital.

Speaking at a daily press briefing, a chief manager of the HA, Gladys Kwan, said a 75-year-old man tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday, and upon tracing his contacts, three more patients and four staff were subsequently confirmed to be infected.

The rest of the patients in the ward and staff who work there have been tested, while visits and admissions have been suspended for the time being.

Kwan noted that the HA had last week instructed some staff caring for more vulnerable patients to have PCR tests twice a week instead of just once, on top of doing rapid antigen tests every day.

She said this arrangement will be expanded to more departments, adding that in-patients will also have to undergo PCR tests on the first and third day of their admission.

The authority is also looking at stepping up testing requirements for visitors, with details yet to be ironed out.

Kwan said she doesn't expect the additional testing requirements to overburden staff or affect services at hospitals.

"The workload we anticipate is manageable. I don’t think it will affect our usual services," she said.

"It really did help us to pick up those positive cases early. With the early confirmed cases, then we can isolate no matter the staff, or even the patients, so that they can get the appropriate treatments. And also we can stop the spread within the hospitals."

Meanwhile, authorities reported 3,906 new local cases for the day, and there were three more Covid-related deaths involving elderly patients aged between 71 and 96.

There were also 224 imported infections.

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USEFUL LINKS
General Covid-19 situation: https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/
Community Clinics for Covid-19 patients: https://bit.ly/3a4BZFE
RAT reporting platform: https://www.chp.gov.hk/ratp/
Vaccination programme: https://www.covidvaccine.gov.hk/sen/
Vaccination pass scheme: https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/vaccine-pass.html
Hotline for Covid-positive patients: 1836 115