A spokesman for the Department of Health (DH) today (December 19) said that the DH has all along been proactively following up on the arrangement of transferring close contacts of COVID-19 confirmed cases to quarantine centres (QCs) for mandatory quarantine.

     In the past 24 hours, after deploying additional staff members and further enhancing inter-departmental collaboration, a special operation has been concluded this afternoon during which close contacts pending for transfer in the past few days have been sent to QCs. In the operation, over 480 close contacts have been arranged to QCs to undergo mandatory quarantine.

     As of 3pm today, over 480 close contacts have been transferred to QCs as arranged by the DH and only extremely small number of close contacts with special circumstances or needs (such as medical needs, food allergy, pets at home) are currently pending further arrangement. The DH will continue to proactively follow up on their needs in order to transfer them to QCs in a short period of time for quarantine.

     The spokesman emphasised that upon receiving the information of close contacts, the DH will arrange designated vehicles to transfer them to quarantine centres as soon as possible. While the arrangement requires inter-departmental collaboration, the DH has continuously mobilised staff members, deployed additional manpower and enhanced the ancillary facilities in order to make arrangement as soon as possible.

     The DH will continue to closely monitor the development of epidemic situation and timely review the manpower requirements work as well as maintain close liaison with government departments and parties concerned to ensure smooth operation.   

Ends/Saturday, December 19, 2020
Issued at HKT 18:54

NNNN