Hong Kong quarantine: health chief pledges improvements at Penny’s Bay amid grilling by lawmakers
- Health minister Sophia Chan says the government has already increased manpower at the centre and set up a cross-departmental task force to manage it
- Four lawmakers are still interned at Penny’s Bay after they were exposed to the coronavirus at a birthday party of a pro-Beijing political figure
Hong Kong’s health minister has pledged to improve the management of the government’s quarantine facility at Penny’s Bay and to make better use of new technologies to streamline procedures and boost efficiency.
Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee made the pledge as she was grilled on Wednesday by pro-establishment lawmakers who were unsatisfied with the quarantine centre – where four lawmakers are currently interned – and concerned about two security guards who recently contracted the coronavirus there.
Chan said the government had already increased the manpower at the centre from 600 to 1,000 employees by recruiting officers from the disciplined services, and set up a cross-departmental task force to manage the facility amid a new wave of coronavirus infections.
“Recently, there was a sharp increase in the number of people who needed to be quarantined; and some people’s release from the camp was delayed because they did not finish their tests. We apologise for the inconvenience caused,” she said.
“The health department and Civil Aid Service increased manpower, the Fire Services Department also deployed some officers to help.”
Kicking off the hour-long questioning session, lawmaker Edward Leung Hei, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), asked: “How will the government improve the centre’s infection prevention measures and management, so as to prevent its staff from being infected and spreading the virus to the community?”