Tsuen Wan hotel first to become isolation facility

A hotel in Tsuen Wan will from Friday begin operating as an isolation facility to house Covid-19 patients with no or mild symptoms.

Dorsett Tsuen Wan, the first to be converted under the government’s Community Isolation Facility Hotel Scheme, had just become a quarantine hotel for close contacts of coronavirus patients a week ago.

In a statement on Thursday, the government said Security Secretary Chris Tang inspected the hotel to ensure it was ready to isolate Covid patients.

The statement said the Security Bureau has set up an anti-epidemic task force to oversee the scheme and former director of fire services, Li Kin-yat, has been appointed to lead the operation.

Around 1,000 retired disciplinary force members have been recruited to help.

The announcement came just a day after Chief Executive Carrie Lam conducted a virtual meeting with the hotel industry to shore up support for the scheme, during which she said she is optimistic that at least 10,000 hotel rooms can be used as isolation facilities.

So far, the authorities have secured about 4,400 rooms.

Later this week, another three hotels — iclub Ma Tau Wai Hotel, iclub Fortress Hill Hotel and Regal Oriental Hotel in Kowloon City — will start providing accommodation for Covid patients.