The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The Hospital Authority (HA) today (June 10) announced that a special visiting arrangement in non-acute hospitals will be implemented beginning next Wednesday (June 17).
 
     The special visiting arrangement will initially cover 16 hospitals (as in appended table). Ward staff will begin contacting patients' family members today for scheduling the visits. Family members are not required to call the wards for booking themselves. Each patient will be allocated a one-hour session by one registered visitor each week, with the arrangement of the hospitals.
 
     The HA spokesperson said, "The HA activated the Emergency Response Level on January 25 to tie in with the infection control measures, and suspended all visiting arrangements.
 
     "With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic around the world, the Emergency Response Level will likely be maintained for a while. Amid easing the situation locally, both the HA Central Command Committee and the HA Central Committee on Infectious Disease and Emergency Responses have deliberated and assessed the infection control risk associated with the visiting arrangement. It was agreed that a special visiting arrangement could be implemented in non-acute hospitals, such as infirmaries and convalescent hospitals.
 
     "Long-stay patients rely more heavily on support from family members both psychologically and in their daily lives. The hospitals and wards concerned have not received any COVID-19 patients, and crowd control measures for visitors are physically viable."
 
     The arrangement will be adjusted with due consideration of the latest epidemic situation, including the progressive extension of the arrangement to other hospitals and wards if the situation allows.
 
     "Visitors entering public hospitals are required to comply with infection control measures, such as wearing surgical masks, temperature checks, and health declarations to safeguard the well-being of patients, staff and visitors.
 
     "We hope the community can understand that visiting arrangements can only be made with certain restrictions under the current epidemic situation. Meanwhile, other acute hospitals and wards will continue to make compassionate arrangements and video-visiting as far as practicable," the spokesperson added.
 
     In addition, the clinical attachment arrangement of medical, nursing, allied health and pharmacy grade students will resume gradually to dovetail with the academic schedules of universities and institutions.
 
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Non-acute hospitals with special visiting arrangements
(Commences on June 17, 2020)
 

Hong Kong East Cluster	Cheshire Home, Chung Hom Kok Wong Chuk Hang Hospital
Hong Kong West Cluster	Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Fung Yiu King Hospital The Duchess of Kent Children's Hospital at Sandy Bay MacLehose Medical Rehabilitation Centre
Kowloon East Cluster	Haven of Hope Hospital
Kowloon Central Cluster	Rehabilitation Building, Kowloon Hospital Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Wong Tai Sin Hospital Hong Kong Buddhist Hospital
Kowloon West Cluster	Lai King Building, Princess Margaret Hospital Paediatric Developmental Disabilities Unit, Wai Yee Block, Caritas Medical Centre
New Territories East Cluster	Cheshire Home, Shatin Shatin Hospital (except psychiatric wards) Tai Po Hospital (except psychiatric wards)
New Territories West Cluster	Tin Ka Ping Infirmary, Pok Oi Hospital Siu Lam Hospital

Ends/Wednesday, June 10, 2020
Issued at HKT 15:07

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