The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The spokesman for the Hospital Authority (HA) announced today (May 3) that 26 public hospitals will resume special visiting arrangement in non-acute wards and units starting from Friday (May 6) (See details in the Appendix).

     The HA spokesperson said, "The HA understands the wish of relatives to visit patients. Having considered the latest stabilised epidemic situation, the HA has decided to resume the special visiting arrangement in phases. The first phase will cover the non-acute wards and units of 26 hospitals."

     One to two visits by one registered visitor will be arranged for each patient every week, with a one hour duration for each visit. Changing of visitors is not allowed within the visit. Hospital staff will contact relatives for appointments. Relatives are not required to call the hospital for booking. Visitors must have completed two doses of COVID‐19 vaccination for at least 14 days, and provide either a nucleic acid test negative result obtained within 48 hours or a rapid antigen test negative result obtained within 24 hours.

     Visitors who recovered from COVID-19 within three months (starting from the 14th day after receiving confirmation of infection) will be exempted from both the testing and vaccination requirements. Visitors are required to provide proof of infection and recovery to healthcare workers. Moreover, visitors need to complete the health declaration form found in the HA webpage or the mobile app "HA Go" 24 hours before the visit and show the QR code generated by the system to ward staff.

     All visitors entering public hospitals are required to comply with infection control measures, such as wearing surgical masks, temperature checking and filling in health declaration forms. Moreover, visitors are also required to observe the requirement of the "LeaveHomeSafe" venue QR code when entering public hospitals.

     The HA spokesperson added, "The HA will review the arrangement with due consideration to the latest epidemic situation and will further extend the arrangement to other hospitals and wards if the situation allows. The HA hopes that the community can understand that visiting arrangements can only be made with certain restrictions under the current epidemic situation. Other hospitals and wards will continue to facilitate compassionate visiting arrangements or video visiting as far as practicable."

Ends/Tuesday, May 3, 2022
Issued at HKT 18:00

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