Covid white elephants? Hong Kong isolation facilities with 40,000 beds left empty as quarantine numbers dwindle
- City rushed to build quarantine facilities on sprawling sites, now only two out of nine are in use
- Idle facilities can be turned into homes, dormitories or healthcare training centres, some suggest
Seven Hong Kong quarantine facilities built in a rush by the government on sprawling sites and providing more than 40,000 beds are currently unoccupied, the Post has learned.
Only two facilities – at Kai Tak and Penny’s Bay – are still being used.
Lawmakers and healthcare sector stakeholders have urged the government to come up with alternative plans for the idle facilities which sit on over 72 hectares (177 acres), an area large enough for about 86 football fields.
In a city notorious for its housing shortage, some suggested turning them into flats, while others said they could be used as dormitories for workers or healthcare training centres, or even dismantled and repurposed.
The Health Bureau confirmed to the Post that only two of the nine isolation facilities were still in use. Together with the Novotel Citygate hotel in Tung Chung, they offer 10,000 units for Covid-19 patients unsuitable for home quarantine, with occupancy rates ranging from 40 to 80 per cent.
All the unused facilities are in the New Territories, at Tsing Yi, San Tin, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, Ma Sik Road in Fanling, Hung Shui Kiu, Tam Mi and in Lok Ma Chau Loop. Occupying 72.5 hectares, they are on “standby mode”, said a spokeswoman for the Security Bureau which has been managing them.
