The fifth wave of the new crown pneumonia epidemic continues. The government will continue to hold a press conference on anti-epidemic today (28th). Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said that at any stage of the fight once morest the epidemic, early detection and early isolation are required, and a large number of tests are required. Currently, private laboratories conduct daily tests. The amount is 300,000 times, and with the popularization of rapid test kits, there are more confirmed cases in the rapid test than in the nucleic acid test. In addition, she said that the number of confirmed cases should be more than that announced by the government every day, and it is common sense that there are more than 1 million people.
She pointed out that testing is divided into mandatory testing announcements, enclosed compulsory inspections and voluntary testing, and the experience of enclosed compulsory inspections has reference value for future nationwide compulsory inspections. A total of 287 enclosed compulsory inspections have been carried out in the fifth wave of the epidemic so far. In the past week, the number of initial confirmed cases found in the restricted areas and the strong inspections fell to single digits, but it is believed that it depends on the number of confirmed cases in the area. She found that 2,800 residents did not comply with the law to be tested, and questioned whether the forced inspection might be fully covered, because 10.5% still did not answer the door when the staff knocked on the door. The anti-epidemic service kits, which will be distributed to all households in Hong Kong this week, will include 70 million rapid antigen test kits, and the public is urged to use them more and report them voluntarily.
When asked whether the nationwide testing would be restarted, and whether there was a timetable, Lam responded that he hoped to pass the quarantine-free customs with the mainland, stressing that the compulsory nationwide testing has not been abandoned, but the implementation time is crucial, involving a lot of manpower and material resources. It is difficult to predict when the epidemic will subside, so a timetable cannot be provided at this time. In her current work, she pointed out that the quarantine has already helped the government to better understand the infection rate in the community, and to know the number of people who have been infected and who have recovered.
Director of Health Lam Man-kin pointed out that many patients died in the A&E department and needed to be sent to public mortuaries, and the number of corpses had doubled. He pointed to increasing the capacity of public mortuaries in the shortest possible time, speeding up procedures, and providing emotional support to family members. He pointed out that the public mortuary itself has 506 fixed corpse storage spaces. After the fifth wave of the epidemic, 240 spaces have been added, and there are a total of 1,350 corpse storage spaces, but it is still insufficient. Therefore, it is necessary to borrow storage space from private institutions and build new ones. The Toyama Mortuary Facility currently has 4,600 storage spaces. Temporary mortuary pressure has also been reduced due to a drop in the number of deceased patients.
In terms of collecting the remains, he said that 70 colleagues were temporarily deployed to help, and he also added the identification procedure of the remains on Saturday and Sunday morning in the Kowloon public mortuary. After the identification, the cremation notice might be received two working days following the identification. He pointed out that he understands the emotional needs of his family and will provide an emotional support hotline, with clinical psychologists to assist the public.
The Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene, Yang Bikun, said that the opening hours of the office have been extended on the premise of assisting the family members in handling their followingmath, and the goal is to allow the family members to handle all procedures within one day. She pointed out that the FEHD itself has 10 corpse disposal teams, and since the end of February, the number of manpower has been greatly increased to 25 teams, and it has cooperated with outsourced contractors. The current body transportation service is generally normal. In terms of the use of crematoriums, the number of sessions on weekdays was regarding 130. Since February, the cremation period has been increased to 300 sessions per day. The latest is regarding midnight, which is close to 24 hours of operation. Wo Hop Shek Crematorium is in In April, two more cremation furnaces will be put into service. I believe that the number of cremations will be further increased, and family members are urged to cremate the remains of the deceased as soon as possible.