More Covid-19 Tests Considered As Cases Remain Low

Health authorities on Friday said they are considering boosting coronavirus testing in a bid to catch asymptomatic Covid-19 patients.

This comes as Hong Kong reported four more confirmed cases. All of them are returnees from the UK.

Three new patients tested positive at AsiaWorld-Expo after returning to Hong Kong on Thursday on the same flight from the UK.

They include a 55-year-old woman who told officials she had been sick for two days in the UK a month ago.

Another patient is a 20-year-old student who returned from the UK almost one month ago and completed her two-week home quarantine here.

After completing her quarantine, she visited a friend's home as well as Cityplaza shopping mall.

She saw a doctor after having a headache on Saturday, and subsequently tested positive for coronavirus.

Despite an "initial drop" in the number of infections, the Under Secretary for Health, Chui Tak-yee, said authorities are exploring different options to boost Covid-19 testing, including testing returnees who were not tested before, and requiring people under home quarantine to be tested before they complete the two-week quarantine period.

"We're exploring different options in increasing the net of testing for asymptomatic individuals but the principle is we have to have a strategy and not doing the test for all asymptomatic people in Hong Kong. That is not practical," he said.

Hong Kong has so far reported 1,021 coronavirus cases. About 480 patients are still being hospitalised, with nine in critical condition.