Coronavirus: why thousands of rooms at Hong Kong’s isolation hotels for Covid-19 patients are still empty
- City leader has vowed to redesignate the space for other purposes, with authorities revealing occupancy rate at just over 50 per cent
- Government in February secured more than 23,000 units across 18 hotels and makeshift facilities
Thousands of Hong Kong hotel rooms secured as community isolation facilities for Covid-19 patients with mild symptoms have mostly been left unused, with the city’s leader vowing to redesignate the space for other purposes.
The government in February secured more than 23,000 isolation units across 18 hotels and eight makeshift facilities for people who test positive for the coronavirus but do not have suitable accommodation for home isolation.
The Security Bureau, tasked to procure the isolation units, said in an email reply to the Post that the occupancy rate of such facilities was more than 50 per cent as of Friday.
“We have agreed to turn some of them, especially the hotels, into isolation facilities for Covid-19 patients and overseas arrivals,” she said.
She also revealed that the government had in all engaged 30 hotels for conversion into isolation facilities for patients, but not all of the establishments were on board with the plan as it took time to get some long-stay guests to vacate.
Lam declined to disclose details of contractual agreements with the hotels, including how much each hotel was paid monthly.
