Nearly Quarter Of A Million Register For Virus Test

Nearly a quarter of a million people have volunteered to take the coronavirus test being offered by the Hong Kong government as the online registration got underway on Saturday.

As of 5.45pm, the number of people registered on the website dedicated for the programme stood at 220,000.

The government has not set a target number for the universal testing programme being offered with the help of mainland experts. But an infectious disease expert who advises the government on its anti-epidemic response, Professor David Hui, had said he hopes at least five million people will volunteer.

The registration process is expected to last two weeks.

Officials have rejected concerns raised by some experts about the effectiveness of the programme, saying this mass testing will enable health authorities identify asymptomatic carries of the coronavirus.

The Civil Service Secretary, Patrick Nip, who’s in charge of the programme, said in a morning radio programme that such large scale tests are also a preview for future prevention and control of the epidemic if more outbreaks happen in course of time.

Officials and government health advisers have been urging people to make use of this opportunity to get the test done.

The government also published full page advertisements in several newspapers on Saturday to promote the testing programme.

A government spokesman told RTHK that the advertisings across 11 Chinese and English newspapers in Hong Kong had cost HK$2.58 million.

The advertisement mentioned that data showed that a quarter of patients who had Covid-19 were asymptomatic.

Government officials have also rejected concerns that the nucleic acid test data would be send to the mainland. Nip said that all the samples collected will be destroyed after the scheme is completed.

Sunrise Diagnostic Centre, one of the labs helping to run the tests, said it will be able to handle up to 300,000 screenings a day.

A lab official said their facility will operate 24 hours once the samples start arriving and will have 400 to 500 people working.

Asked why the government had launched the mass testing programme but had postponed Legislative Council elections, Nip said the Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, had explained in detail that the Legco elections were delayed to protect public safety and health, and to ensure fair and open polls.

Nip said the mass testing would be carried out over a seven--to-14 day period, in contrast to the elections which would have taken a single day.

He added that the online booking arrangement would avoid the need for crowds outside community testing centres.

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