Working flat out to come through the epidemic
2 February 2022
Today is the second day of the Lunar New Year. May this Year of the Tiger bring good health and happiness to you and your family! This morning, I paid a site visit to the Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre (PBQC) for an update on its operation.
As the fifth-wave epidemic rages on, there has been a spike in the number of persons placed under quarantine at the PBQC since January 2022. Consequential problems such as delays in testing and jammed hotlines have hampered the centre’s operation and drawn the concern of LegCo Members. Given the significance of this matter, I chaired an inter-bureau and inter-departmental meeting on January 17 with the attendance of Secretary for Food and Health, Secretary for Security as well as representatives of the Department of Health (DH) and other relevant departments to review the operational procedures in force. It was identified that the problems were down to insufficient manpower to cope with the sudden surge in the number of persons admitted to the PBQC, as well as delays in workflow coordination due to data input errors on the part of inexperienced supporting staff. To address the problems, various improvement measures were proposed at the meeting, which included increasing manpower for the PBQC, ensuring proper data input by experienced staff, enhancing the mechanism for communicating with persons under quarantine, and strengthening inter-departmental workflow coordination in the centre.
During my visit today, I found that a series of improvement measures have already been implemented, including:
- enhancing manpower support: additional manpower has been allocated by the DH, the Civil Aid Service (CAS) and the contractors, while the Fire Services Department (FSD) has also deployed staff to assist in centre operation. The number of PBQC staff has increased by two-thirds from about 600 early last month to about 1 000;
- double-checking information to ensure accuracy: experienced senior CAS staff have been tasked with inputting data of persons under quarantine and double-checking the information every night to ensure the accuracy of check-in and check-out records;
- improving information dissemination and setting up a new hotline: manpower has been increased to handle enquiries and disseminate the latest information to persons under quarantine in a timely manner. The DH has also set up a 24-hour dedicated hotline for check-out enquiries; and
- establishing an inter-departmental coordination group with a designated coordinator: a coordination group led by the DH has been established comprising members from the CAS, the Auxiliary Medical Service, medical teams under the DH, etc. A new post of designated coordinator has been taken up by a former Assistant Director of the FSD to strengthen communication and deal with immediate problems.
While the PBQC is basically in smooth operation now, I would like to remind all relevant departments to keep up the enhancement measures, including:
- enhancing contingency plans of different levels and deployment of necessary manpower and resources in order to prepare for the influx of persons to be quarantined;
- devising an intelligent management plan, which involves computer system enhancement and the use of information technology (such as bar-coding system and integrated information management software), and adopting viable technology solutions to streamline the procedures and increase efficiency in handling the many enquiries and support requests from persons under quarantine; and
- drawing up a list of frequently asked questions and answers to facilitate efficient response to enquiries through the hotline.
In this anti-epidemic battle which has been fought for more than two years, PBQC staff have been standing fast at their posts tirelessly, embracing numerous risks and challenges with courage and determination. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for their hard work and commitment for which they really deserve a pat on the back. I believe that, with concerted efforts from different sectors of the community, Hong Kong will surely be able to come through the epidemic and step out of the gloom.
