Chinese mainland medical staff arrive in Hong Kong, south China, March 16, 2022. Another batch of the Chinese mainland medical staff on Wednesday arrived in Hong Kong to support the local fight against the COVID-19 epidemic.The team consists of 300 members, including doctors, nurses, radiographers and administrative staff from 22 public hospitals in the neighboring Guangdong Province. (Xinhua/Li Gang) 

Another batch of the Chinese mainland medical staff on Wednesday arrived in Hong Kong to support the local fight against the COVID-19 epidemic.

The team consists of 300 members, including doctors, nurses, radiographers and administrative staff from 22 public hospitals in the neighboring Guangdong Province.

Led by Zhang Zhongde, vice president of the Guangdong Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Guangzhou, members of the team specialize in areas including infectious disease, respirology, cardiology, intensive care and traditional Chinese medicine. Most of them have rich experiences in anti-epidemic work and are proficient in Cantonese and English.

They will work with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government to provide medical care at the community treatment facility at AsiaWorld-Expo and help control the latest COVID-19 wave as soon as possible.

Chief Executive of the HKSAR Carrie Lam expressed her gratitude to the central government's full support for the HKSAR, and welcomed the mainland medical team arriving in Hong Kong.

"I am very grateful to the mainland medical staff who overcame many difficulties in coming to assist Hong Kong to fight the epidemic," said Lam.

Lam said that the top priority in the current anti-epidemic work is to reduce the number of deaths, severe cases and infections, and Hong Kong is in serious shortage of medical staff in public hospitals, urgently needing support for treatment of critically ill patients.

On Wednesday, Hong Kong registered 14,454 new COVID-19 cases by nucleic acid tests, and 14,818 additional positive cases through self-reported rapid antigen tests, official data showed.