'Dozens Of Silent Covid Carriers Still In Society'

The Secretary for Civil Service, Patrick Nip, has said it is estimated that there are still dozens of undetected silent carriers of the coronavirus in the community, and warned that any of these cases could cause an outbreak.

Nip put the figure around 100, based on the number of carriers picked up in the government’s free community testing scheme.

The authorities have so far collected samples from more than 1.4 million people under the scheme and have identified 19 infected people from it.

Speaking to a Commercial Radio programme on Thursday, he said it was difficult to predict how many more people would take part in the programme now that it has been extended for three more days.

When asked if the decision to extend the scheme was to "make the numbers look better", Nip replied that the aim of the programme is to fight the epidemic and find the silent carriers.

The civil service chief also spoke on an RTHK radio programme, calling on parents, teachers, and students to take part in the scheme before face-to face classes resume later this month.

Nip reiterated that although the scheme is voluntary, from a public health point-of-view people have a duty to get tested.