'Patients With Mild Symptoms Shun Covid Testing'

A University of Hong Kong microbiologist said about 80 percent of people who had mild respiratory symptoms and sought treatment from private doctors were not willing to get tested for Covid-19, highlighting the risk of the virus spreading in the community.

Professor Yuen Kwok-yung told a Commercial Radio programme on Tuesday that while coronavirus testing needs to be more targeted at certain high-risk groups, especially when resources are limited, mandatory tests should be required of people with mild respiratory symptoms.

He said that the police and health authorities could intervene when people fail to comply, and they could be slapped with a fine or even face a jail sentence.

But he also expressed concern that mandatory testing could deter them from seeking medical treatment, further worsening the outbreak.

Yuen made it clear that testing should be targeted and focuses on segments of the population where it is easier to find more symptomatic patients, especially after the government's citywide testing scheme managed to come up with only a small number of infections.

But Dr Henry Yeung from the Doctors Union has raised questions about the idea of mandatory testing for patients.

“Even when the patients come to see doctors, they come to visit the doctors voluntarily. If we have to request them to do examinations we have to get their consent, and even for any lab tests, we have to get their consent before that,” he explained.

He stressed that when combating a disease like Covid, doctors need to have the consent of patients before any procedures are carried out.

But he also told RTHK's Frances Sit that the government can provide incentives for people to get tested such as offering meal vouchers or discounts for the tests.

Yeung said some of the reasons cited by people who refuse to take the test are because they’ve already taken the test.

“Actually, that’s not a good excuse for me, because even though you get the test negative one week ago, you may get the disease within these few days, and that’s a very dangerous attitude,” Yeung said.

Yuen, meanwhile, said the government's infection-control measures also need to be more targeted at high-risk places. The top microbiologist said some of these "high-risk points" include wet markets, roast meat shops and small-scale coffee shops that are more likely to accept cash, rather than using contactless payment methods.

He said at these places, not only do people take off their masks, but also there's often one employee who's in charge of both packaging and accepting cash payment.

At many roast meat shops, for example, the same person cuts the meat, collects the money and packages the item, he said.

Yuen pointed out the virus could spread when people handle cash.

His comments came after findings from Australia's national science agency published on Monday found that Covid-19 can survive on banknotes, phone screens and stainless steel for 28 days.

Yuen had warned over the weekend that more than 1,000 people could die from Covid-19 this winter if the outbreak is not under control by then, because the virus survives longer in winter and more people could fall ill.

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