Special Session 5 - COVID-19: Diagnosis and Management

With the support from the Central People’s Government, the Hong Kong SAR Government decided in August 2020 to construct a temporary hospital as a designated hospital for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, situated at the Hong Kong International Airport AsiaWorld-Expo Phase 2 site. Its purpose is to enhance the ability of the Hospital Authority (HA) to handle further surges in cases anticipated in the next wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The temporary hospital project is led by the Development Bureau, and the Architectural Services Department is responsible for the project management. HA as the user is responsible for commissioning and providing services. The temporary hospital was placed under the governance of North Lantau Hospital (NLTH) and named the Hong Kong Infection Control Centre (HKICC).


The HKICC is a ground-breaking facility in the history of medical services in Hong Kong. It is the first hospital facility with negative pressure isolation wards built using modular integrated construction technology. With concerted efforts from various teams and departments, the project was completed in a mere 120 days. After the handover of the HKICC to the HA on 22 January, laboratory services were commenced in less than a month, and the first patient was admitted after just five weeks. 


The HKICC accommodates 12 inpatient wards, with 136 six-bedded cubicles in negative pressure, providing a total capacity of 816 beds. An onsite laboratory provides core laboratory tests as well as molecular and serology tests for COVID-19. Medical ancillary services such as pharmacy and mobile X-ray are also available. The hospital provides inpatient treatment and monitoring to COVID-19 patients with mild to moderate severity. Dr Michael Wong will guide the audience on a virtual tour around the HKICC and show them the state-of-the-art features incorporated into the hospital.

The Covid-19 pandemic which commenced in December 2019 has resulted in more than 1.36 million confirmed cases, 2.9 million deaths and affected 192 countries. This pandemic of the century has once again reminded us the importance of infection control measures, research in the development of antiviral and vaccine against the emerging infectious diseases, but even more important, to respect the wild life in the nature. Various institutes, governments and pharmaceuticals have worked together to develop effective Covid-19 antivirals and vaccines. In Hong Kong, the tight infection control measures and the early quarantine of confirmed patients allow us to commence early treatment in high risk patients, thus optimizing the effect of the antiviral treatment. This resulted in effective suppression of patient’s viral load, hastened clinical recovery and reduced risk of deterioration. In this lecture, I will discuss the various treatment modalities in Covid-19 infection.

Despite of public health measures, Hong Kong has experienced four epidemic waves of COVID-19, resulting in 11,468 infected cases and 205 deaths as of March 2021. Our team has established Nanopore MinION and Illumina Miseq platform for whole-genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 during the early stage of the pandemic (in February 2020). Phylogenomic analysis enabled us to identify an asymptomatic patient as the source of the first superspreading event of COVID-19 (Buddhist worship hall cluster) happened in late February 2020. After months of relative quiescence, a large COVID-19 outbreak (third wave) occurred in Hong Kong in July 2020. The phylogeny of some early cases indicated that the outbreak was attributed to a single lineage B.1.1.63 (GISAID Clade GR), which was identical to viral genomes isolated from marine crew and aircrew who were exempted from mandatory quarantine. In early October 2020, we identified a novel viral genome (lineage B.1.36.27 GISAID Clade GH) among local cases, which was most closely related to imported cases from Nepal. Based on the genomic evidence, the Hong Kong government has stepped up measures to prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from imported cases, particularly the number of individuals that can be exempted from mandatory quarantine is reduced, and all incoming travellers must be quarantined at designated hotels for 21 days. Continued genomic surveillance of locally-acquired cases is pivotal in detecting novel lineages that enters Hong Kong.