CEDB distributes anti-epidemic medical supplies from Mainland at full speed

     A spokesman for the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau (CEDB) said today (February 27) that the task force of ensuring medical supplies led by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Edward Yau, has swiftly distributed medical supplies from the Mainland to frontline staff and individuals receiving treatment or those in need in the past week.
 
     The spokesman said that with the staunch support of the Central Government, the task force has been working closely with their Mainland counterparts and gained fruitful results. Various kinds of medical supplies, including rapid antigen test (RAT) kits, masks, proprietary Chinese medicines, protective gear and medical products as requested by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government are arriving in Hong Kong in batches.
 
     To date, the task force has received about 14 million RAT kits. Except those reserved for the Compulsory Universal Testing (CUT), about 7 million kits have been distributed through relevant departments to specified high-risk and target groups, such as staff and residents of residential care homes for the elderly and the disabled, medical staff, cleaning staff and cross-boundary truck drivers. Meanwhile, 1.8 million kits have been sent to the Hong Kong Community Anti-Coronavirus Link (The Link) by the Home Affairs Department for distribution to members of the public in various districts.
 
     The task force so far has also received about 11 million N95 and KN95 masks. While the masks are reserved mainly for public use during the CUT, 500 000 of them have been delivered to frontline staff of the Department of Health (DH) and the disciplined services.
 
     About 200 000 pulse oximeters received from the Mainland have all been distributed to the DH and the Hospital Authority (HA) for patient use.
 
     Meanwhile, the task force has received a total of 350 000 boxes of anti-epidemic proprietary Chinese medicines so far, including the batch arriving in Hong Kong on coming Monday. Among them, 70 000 boxes and 50 000 boxes have been given to the Link and other local organisations respectively for distribution to the community. 
 
     The remaining 230 000 boxes of the proprietary Chinese medicines will be distributed through relevant departments to those receiving treatment at 18 Chinese medicine clinics under the HA and people who had tested positive at isolation facilities.
 
     The task force will continue to co-ordinate with various Government departments and agencies on the medical supplies needed to ensure that resources can be expeditiously supplied to Hong Kong to cope with the epidemic.