Hong Kong Public Servants from various Departments are being drafted in to enforce the Government’s lockdown and isolation arrangements as the COVID-19 crisis in the city worsens.
Sources said the deployment could last for three months and a plan and already been mapped out by top officials.
On latest available figures, Hong Kong was reporting more than 6,000 COVID-19 infections daily.
A total of 46,763 confirmed cases, with 280 related deaths, are now confirmed since the beginning of the pandemic.
The Government has been casting about to find extra facilities and manpower to cope with rising lockdown orders and a surge in the number of patients needing to be isolated.
About 24,700 people who tested positive were still waiting for admission to isolation at public facilities, while lockdowns were imposed on eight areas across Hong Kong for compulsory testing.
Chief Executive, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said the Government was considering city-wide universal testing in a bid to detect more positive cases as Hong Kong battles its fifth wave of infections.
Workers have begun building isolation facilities at the deserted Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, and are expanding existing facilities in Penny’s Bay, providing 10,000 community quarantine and treatment units.
Ms Lam said at least 1,000 retired police and other security-trained officers would be hired to staff the new facilities.
Hong Kong, 22 February 2022
