'No Need To Break Down Doors Right Away Over Tests'

A district councillor on Wednesday urged the government not to overreact to people who fail to open their doors to inspectors during coronavirus lockdowns, after hundreds of households again kept their doors shut as authorities went around to ask them to get tested.

The DAB’s Nicole Lau from the Sham Shui Po District Council said authorities should make at least two to three attempts to reach out to residents before taking more drastic actions such as breaking down their doors or prosecuting them.

She noted that many residents are elderly, poor, or belong to ethnic minority groups who may not be well-informed about the government’s mandatory testing measures.

Around 180 households in her district kept their doors shut during overnight operations. Around a third of the 150 households visited in Jordan didn’t answer either, while people in Tin Shui Wai were more receptive, with just 13 of 225 flats visited not answering.

It's not known whether they were ignoring the inspectors, or were simply not home.

The government has warned that authorities could break down doors and forcibly remove residents for testing if they ignore visiting inspectors, though no such instances have been reported so far.

Of more than 2,100 people tested in the latest round of lockdowns, no new coronavirus cases were found. One 'undetermined' case is being followed up by the Centre for Health Protection.

As such, some affected residents questioned whether it was worth all the fuss to continue imposing lockdowns, complaining about the severe disruption to their daily lives.

One Sham Shui Po resident surnamed Au said she didn't understand why she was forced to get tested, even though there were no confirmed cases in her building, and tests on sewage there didn’t find any coronavirus either.

"A lot of hawkers come here and do businesses every day and they were not tested. So what's the point of only checking all residents here? What protection can it offer?" she asked.

She said the government should instead take action to improve environmental hygiene in the district.

Another resident of the district grumbled, “It's unacceptable that the test results came so late. I'm late for work!” as he scrambled to find a taxi.

Other affected people were more understanding.

A newspaper hawker who gave her surname as Wong, meanwhile, said she couldn’t set up her stall at 6.30am as usual because of the lockdown. She expects to lose a third of her earnings as a result.

But she said she had no complaints as the tests could put peoples' minds at ease.

In Jordan, an elderly man was forced to sleep over in his friend's home as the lockdown was imposed when they were having dinner.

He was fine with the arrangements.

"The testing staff came to my friend's home and collected our specimens because we're all elderly and one of us is in a wheelchair. They also brought us some food. It's really considerate," he said.