Public hospitals further relax visiting arrangement
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The Hospital Authority (HA) announced today (February 27) that, in view of the gradual resumption of normalcy in Hong Kong, public hospitals will further relax visiting arrangement from Wednesday (March 1). Visitors are no longer required to perform nucleic acid tests. Moreover, some hospitals will adjust visiting sessions and hours to allow patients to have more time to meet with family members.
The HA spokesperson said, "Visitors are only required to perform a COVID-19 rapid antigen test within 24 hours before the visit, and show a negative result. They are no longer required to provide any nucleic acid test negative result."
Visiting hours of public hospitals are currently limited to two hours per day. From March 1 onwards, public hospitals will adjust their visiting sessions and hours subject to ward operations. Visiting hours of some hospital wards would be longer than two hours. Various visiting hours will also be arranged to allow family members to have more flexibility and more time to meet with patients.
There is no restriction on the number of visitors. Visitors can take turns to visit but only two visitors are allowed to enter the ward at the same time for each patient. The visiting arrangements previously relaxed will continue to be in place subject to the operation of wards, including no prior appointment required for visitors and allowing visitors to feed patients.
The HA spokesperson reminded patients and visitors, "Patients and visitors should continue to comply with prevailing infection control measures, including wearing surgical masks when patients are not drinking or eating, wearing surgical masks at all time for visitors and paying attention to hand hygiene, so as to minimise the risk of spreading virus."
Except for a small number of wards not allowing visiting due to operation constraints, all wards in public hospitals will implement the abovementioned new visiting arrangement. Visitors may ask for details regarding the visiting arrangement from ward staff.
Ends/Monday, February 27, 2023
Issued at HKT 15:52
Issued at HKT 15:52
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