Health officials on Monday said they would stop giving PCR tests to all those declaring Covid infections after using rapid antigen tests and would carry out spot checks instead.

This came as Hong Kong recorded another 8,488 Covid infections, including 236 imported cases.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection explained at the daily Covid briefing why they were no longer going to follow up all self-reported infections with a PCR test.

"One explanation why we do that is because of the low false negative rate so far we have tested... and the second of course is because of the rapid increase in the number of tests we have to do so we have to be more efficient in the use of our laboratory testing," she said.

The Hospital Authority (HA) said 2,556 Covid patients were being treated in public hospitals.

Seventeen of them were in intensive care, including a 17-month-old boy.

Another four patients with Covid-19 have died. They were aged between 89 and 101.

Given the recent rise in admissions, the HA announced plans to add more beds at AsiaWorld Expo and convert some non-urgent wards to treat coronavirus patients.

The Social Welfare Department also announced on Monday that the quarantine centre at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal will come into operation this Friday, alleviating the pressure on other isolation facilities.

It said the 786-bed center will reserve about a third of its beds for residents of elderly care homes who have been identified as close Covid contacts.

The Kai Tak Quarantine Centre will provide basic meals and nursing support without charge.

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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