Yau Tsim Mong Residents Flock To Get Covid-19 Tests

Residents in Yau Ma Tei and Jordan flocked to get tested for Covid-19 on Saturday, after dozens of infections were detected in the area over the past fortnight.

More than 80 coronavirus infections have been recorded in Yau Tsim Mong district, including an outbreak involving more than 20 residents of an old tenement building on Reclamation Street.

On Friday, mandatory testing orders were issued for residents of 20 blocks, in an area bordered by Nathan Road, Jordan Road, Kansu Street and Ferry Street. The order affects anyone who lives in a building with a confirmed Covid-19 infection.

They will have until Monday to get tested.

The mandatory testing order affects thousands of people, and officials were on hand who could speak Nepalese, Urdu as well as other languages to help people from the ethnic minority community.

One resident RTHK spoke to at a testing centre at the Kwun Chung Sports Centre, a Ms Choi, said she came early because she was worried after learning there were two confirmed cases at the block where she lives on Reclamation Street.

Another resident who lives in the area covered by the mandatory testing order, a Ms Sin, said she had come to get tested even though there were no confirmed cases in her building because she wanted to feel more at ease.

She also said staff had led her to a mobile testing van that located a bit further away from her building, which made her feel safer.

Another resident who was getting tested, a Mr Au Yeung, said the tests only take five minutes and found the whole process to be rather convenient. He said people who did not come forward to get tested were “stupid”, while describing those who did so as “wise men”.

Wong Lei-po from the Hong Kong Molecular Pathology Diagnostic Centre – which has been contracted to operate the testing vans – says there are four testing vans deployed in the area, and estimates they can carry out between 2,000 and 3,000 tests a day. He encouraged residents in the district to get tested, regardless of whether they were covered by mandatory orders or not.