Temporary Testing Centres Open For Care Home Staff

The government on Friday set up two temporary centres for care home staff to get tested for Covid-19, with 10 days left for them to do so in order to be able to keep on working.

Health Secretary Sophia Chan on Monday ordered mandatory tests for care home workers, with any who fail to get checked running the risk of being barred from working, fined or even imprisoned.

To make it easier for care home staff to take a Covid-19 test, officials said they had opened centres for them, at Hennessy Road Playground in Wan Chai and at Wong Chuk Hang Recreation Ground.

Care home workers can also get a free test at the government's community testing centres or arrange one elsewhere at their own expense.

Isaac Tsang, from the Community Care and Nursing Home Workers General Union, said the two additional centres were better than nothing, but the situation remains far from ideal.

He said the testing centres will be far from where many carers work and being as staff generally work 12-hour shifts, they may struggle to get to the centres before they close at seven in the evenings.

Tsang said if staff went during working hours, this would cause a manpower shortage.

On an RTHK programme, he said that getting workers to go for tests at community centres will increase infection risks.

"The previous five rounds of voluntary testing for our sector's workers, they were all conducted at care facilities. They covered around 70-percent of the sector then. Why can't the government do it now?" Tsang questioned.