1,500 Tests, No Cases In Jordan And Sham Shui Po

Overnight "ambush-style" lockdowns in areas of Jordan and Sham Shui Po on Monday saw more than 1,500 people tested for Covid-19 but no new cases, officials said on Tuesday morning.

Officials allowed people who could show a negative test result to leave the area around the Man Ying Building in Jordan and the Hang On Building in Sham Shui Po at about 7am. Officials were continuing to check for anyone who hadn't taken a test.

Residents in Jordan say the testing arrangements were convenient and the instructions were simple, but there were a lot of people waiting.

One man said he felt the operation was a bit too much, given that no cases were found. He said many people who needed to go to work were inconvenienced.

"The company that I work for has asked me to take leave for two weeks," he said. "It would be effective if it detected some positive cases."

A woman said: "I have been tested once. It would have been better if the operation was done a few days earlier.

"There were four Covid-19 cases detected here. It was too late to do mandatory testing as they have already spread the virus."

Officials said they went door to door at almost 1,000 homes in Jordan, including subdivided flats. They received no answers at 270 residences, some of which would be the homes of people already in quarantine or undergoing treatment.

At the smaller lockdown area in Sham Shui Po, staff visited 59 homes and didn't receive answers at 15 of them.

Some 1,450 people were tested in Jordan, 90 in Sham Shui Po.

Multiple local lockdowns have taken place every night for the last nine days. Some experts have questioned the strategy, as most of the lockdowns have turned up no new cases, but officials say finding no cases is positive as it shows an area is virus-free.

Four preliminary positive cases were found in Sunday-night lockdowns in Quarry Bay and Hung Hom, resulting in a partial evacuation of a Quarry Bay building and around 130 pupils at a school attended by one patient being sent to quarantine.

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