More Areas Come Under Stricter Covid Testing Rules

The government on Tuesday announced that more buildings in Jordan, Mong Kok, Yau Ma Tei and Hung Hom are coming under stringent mandatory coronavirus testing rules.

Two new areas, in Hung Hom, and Yau Ma Tei/Mong Kok, will see tests ordered for all residents if their block has just one known infection, while an area of Jordan where this rule was already in place is to be expanded.

There will also be mandatory tests if Covid-19 is found in sewage samples taken from the buildings in the specified areas.

The stricter testing rules will also continue to apply to part of Sham Shui Po.

The new specific zone in Yau Ma Tei/Mong Kok is bordered by Nathan Road, Public Square Street, Ferry Street and Dundas Street, while the zone in Hung Hom is bordered by Station Lane, Dock Street, Po Loi Street, Winslow Street, Hung Hom Road South and Chatham Road North.

Under the new rules, residents of six buildings in the areas set out are already required to take Covid tests.

The under secretary for health, Chui Tak-yi, described the new testing protocol as “forward-looking”.

“We might initiate the action before the outbreak becomes very significant. That’s the reason why we added those new designated areas in the regions that I have mentioned… because of factors that we have considered before, like the buildings are rather old with not so satisfactory management, or the number of buildings affected, and the locations of those buildings are rather concentrated. So we would like to act early and impose a more stringent testing protocol,” he said.

Health authorities on Tuesday reported 64 new coronavirus infections, all but one of them locally acquired. One-third of the infections were untraceable.

More than 50 other people tested preliminary positive for the virus.

Chui said the city’s coronavirus situation is still serious.

He noted that almost 500 infections were recorded in the past week, 40 percent of which were untraceable.

He announced that social distancing rules that were due to expire on Thursday will be extended for a week until February 3.