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Hong Kong to focus COVID resources on elderly, no date set for mass tests

09 March 2022 09:10 (UTC +04:00)

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced a series of measures targeted at elderly residents on Wednesday as a surge of COVID-19 infections sweeps through care homes with deaths rapidly climbing among the city's mainly unvaccinated seniors, APA reports citing Reuters.

The government will strengthen medical treatment and resources and set up more isolation and temporary care facilities for elderly coronavirus patients, Lam told a media briefing.

She said a date for a compulsory mass testing scheme, which has triggered panic buying of groceries and essentials in the city, was still being considered but the government had not decided on a timeframe given the huge scale of the operation.

"It is a major exercise which cannot be done overnight. If it is not prepared with all the details and mobilised with all the resources, its not possible."