Photo taken on Feb. 28, 2022 shows the construction site of the community isolation facility in Tsing Yi, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The construction was completed on Monday with the support of the Chinese mainland. Commenced on Feb. 22, the construction of the community isolation facility is the first one to be completed since the fifth wave of the epidemic, able to accommodate over 3,900 patients after being put into use. (Photo: China News Service/Li Zhihua)

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HSAR) government had submitted request to the mainland to dispatch medical teams to aid Hong Kong for dealing with severe COVID-19 cases and boost efficiency of treating patients among public hospitals, Carrie Lam, chief executive of the SAR government, announced Wednesday. 

Lam said at Wednesday's press brief that the aid of medical teams from the mainland will boost capabilities of medical facilities - in North Lantau Hospital Hong Kong Infection Control Centre and community treatment facility at AsiaWorld-Expo - to treat COVID-19 patients with severe symptoms. 

The medical facility in Lok Ma Chau Loop aided by the mainland will also be supported by mainland's medical teams as early as April, Lam said. Such measures will, meanwhile, alleviate pressure of public hospitals to ensure COVID-19 patients get timely treatment before they become severe cases, Lam added. 

Wang Guangfa, a respiratory expert at Peking University First Hospital who was also among experts of the National Health Commission to visit Wuhan in early January 2020, told the Global Times that how to treat patients to avoid mild cases progressing into severe cases to reduce the death rate is just what mainland medical workers are good at, as they have vast amount of experience in treating patients, accumulated in rounds of domestic outbreaks, including the one in Wuhan. 

One of the most important references for Hong Kong is that none of the more than 40,000 medical staff who aided Wuhan contracted the virus. This capability will definitely raise the morale of medical staff working in Hong Kong and the confidence of residents and the Hong Kong SAR government to beat the novel coronavirus, Wang said.

The mainland has assisted the HKSAR in nucleic acid testing, supplies of necessities and building of nine isolation facilities. Mainland expert teams, including one led by Liang Wannian, head of the National Health Commission's expert team, have been to the city to aid the local battle against the outbreak. 

Besides that, the central government has already organized nucleic acid testing teams composed of about 9,000 people to facilitate city-wide testing in Hong Kong, and they can leave for the city any time Hong Kong needs them, according to Li Dachuan, an official from the National Health Commission.

The central government is concerned with the raging COVID-19 situation in Hong Kong and has promised to give more support whenever the SAR government needs it. 

The fifth wave of COVID-19 epidemic has registered more than 500,000 positive cases, among them over 100,000 were asymptomatic cases. As of Tuesday, the number of deaths reached 2,365, mostly seniors, according to Lam. 

A model calculation from the Hong Kong University showed epidemic in Hong Kong will soon peak and new cases will gradually decline. The confirmed number will drop to lower than 1,000 by April 23 and double digits numbers in around the middle of May, local media reported.