The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The spokesperson for the Tuen Mun Hospital (TMH) made the following announcement today (May 17) concerning a temporary suspension of negative pressure system in an isolation ward this morning:
At around 7.10am this morning, a false fire alarm was triggered at an isolation ward in the main block of TMH. During the incident, air conditioning and negative pressure system were suspended in accordance with the statutory requirement of fire protection and ventilation system design. Upon confirmation by the firemen that there was no fire, staff of the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) performed inspection immediately. Air conditioning and the negative pressure system resumed normal at 8.25am.
There were five patients in the concerned isolation ward. While three patients with COVID-19 tested negative and pending transfer to a general ward were staying together in the same room, the other two patients suspected to be infected with closed-tuberculosis of low airborne infectious risk were staying in two single rooms separately. During the incident, there was no one entering or leaving the rooms nor any high risk procedure was performed.
There was no confirmed COVID-19 patient in the concerned isolation ward.
In accordance with the contingency plan, ward staff has put on appropriate personal protective equipment including N95 respirators. The infection risk was assessed to be extremely low.
The TMH is very concerned about the incident and has urged the EMSD to perform a thorough checking to the system to ensure its proper functioning, followed by the submission of detailed investigation report. The smoke detector at the concerned isolation ward has also been changed. The incident has been reported to the Hospital Authority Head Office via the Advance Incident Reporting System.
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