Hong Kong says 20,000 hotel rooms earmarked for quarantine as COVID cases surge (updated)

Sun Hung Kai Properties

18/02/2022 04:28

(Adds daily infection numbers from local media, detail on
testing and hotel rooms)
    HONG KONG, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Hong Kong has identified more
than 20,000 hotel rooms for quarantine accommodation, leader
Carrie Lam said on Friday, as property developers piled in to
show support as the global financial hub battles a surge in
COVID-19 cases.
    Lam said 21 hotels had expressed interest in turning their
facilities into isolation venues, exceeding "by a large margin
the government's original target of 7,000 to 10,000 rooms".
    Quarantine facilities in Hong Kong have reached capacity and
hospital beds are more than 90% full as cases spiral, with some
patients, including elderly, left on beds outside in chilly,
sometimes rainy weather.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2US1BY
    The moves come as Hong Kong authorities report new cases
have multiplied 60 times so far this month, and after Chinese
President Xi Jinping said the city's "overriding mission" was to
stabilise and control the outbreak.
    Mobile testing vehicles from mainland China arrived in Hong
Kong on Thursday, part of measures to help the city boost
testing, authorities said.
    Hong Kong is expected to report at least 3,600 new
infections on Friday, with another 7,600 preliminary positive
cases, local broadcaster TVB said, citing an unidentified
source.
    CK Asset Holdings, owned by billionaire Li Ka-shing, said it
would provide more than 3,000 hotel rooms in four hotels. Sun
Hung Kai Properties (SHKP)  0016.HK  said it could provide 1,000
rooms. Both developers said they would broadcast a government
promotional video on vaccine passports in its major malls. 
    "President Xi Jinping’s important instructions to support
Hong Kong's fight against the epidemic, and mobilisation of
relevant central departments to help Hong Kong, have given a
confidence boost to all Hong Kong people," SHKP Chairman Raymond
Kwok said in a statement late on Thursday.
    New World Development  0017.HK  said it planned to provide
about 700 rooms, while Henderson Land Development  0012.HK  said
its founding Lee family would donate HK$10 million ($1.3
million) to send anti-epidemic materials to elderly homes, among
others.  
    Reuters reported in September that Beijing had given a new
mandate to the global financial hub's powerful property tycoons,
telling them to pour resources and influence into backing
Beijing's interests.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2Q1146
    The government said the Dorsett Tsuen Wan hotel in the
city's northern New Territories region would provide
accommodation starting on Friday for people who tested positive
for COVID-19 but had no or mild symptoms.
    
($1 = 7.7987 Hong Kong dollars)

 (Reporting by Clare Jim, Twinnie Siu and Marius Zaharia;
Writing by Anne Marie Roantree and Farah Master; Editing by
Stephen Coates and Gerry Doyle)
 ((farah.master@thomsonreuters.com; +852 3462 7709;))