'Pupils May Need To Do RAT Tests When School Resumes'

Education secretary Kevin Yeung said on Saturday that the government is planning to ask pupils to do frequent rapid Covid tests, when they return to school for face-to-face classes starting from April 19.

Speaking on an RTHK programme, the minister said in-person classes will resume in phases, starting with half-day lessons for senior primary school students.

More junior primary school pupils, senior high-schoolers and some kindergarten children will next be allowed to return to campus, and in mid May, all students will be allowed to have half-day lessons at school.

Yeung said officials will decide how frequently rapid tests have to be done, as well as the threshold of infections that would trigger class suspensions, after discussions with health authorities.

Test kits will be provided to students from poor families, he said.

Speaking after another radio show, Dr Mike Kwan from the University of Hong Kong's medical school said testing is a good idea, but unvaccinated students may also have to be put under more restrictions on campus.

"There is a concern of a rebound of infections... There may be a sixth wave of infections after the school resumption, because at this moment, the vaccination rate for the age three to 11 is only up to 61 percent," he said.

"Maybe for those unvaccinated students, we might need to restrict their activities within the school, and for those vaccinated classmates, they may have a more liberal activity within the school environment."

The expert urged parents to take their children for vaccination as soon as possible.