The Role of a Private Hospital in Hong Kong Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

Hong Kong public healthcare system is facing tremendous pressure under the COVID-19 pandemic. As the virus spread in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital (HKSH) is one of the first private hospitals which immediately provide reliable and rapid COVID-19 test -- Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). Early provision of the RT-PCR screening test for COVID-19 not only facilitates identification of COVID-19 but also contains the spread of the virus in the community and frontline medical staff. Since description of role of private hospital in Hong Kong amid COVID-19 pandemic is lacking, this study will describe COVID-19 screening algorithm and methodology. A retrospective analysis on clinical characteristics, laboratory findings as well as outcome of patients who underwent COVID-19 test in HKSH is also performed.