Hong Kong has lifted the restrictions over a virus-stricken area in the Kowloon Peninsula after the mandatory COVID-19 screening for its dwellers was completed.
The area has become no more sealed starting midnight Sunday, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government said in a statement.
Out of about 7,000 people taking the tests, 13 have been found positive of the virus by midnight. Patients and their close contacts were sent to hospitals or quarantine centers.
The restrictions were imposed in small hours of Saturday due to a severe epidemic outbreak in the district, with 162 confirmed cases, involving 56 buildings, were reported from Jan. 1 to 20.
The government said it hopes the temporary inconvenience will cut the transmission chains in the district so that social and business activities in the area will be able to resume and lives will return to normal.
More than 3,000 government personnel were mobilized and 51 swab collection stations were set up for the operation.
The government strived to guarantee the daily necessities of local people, providing food packs, face masks and cleaning tools. Some 50 working staff who can speak Nepali, Urdu and Hindi were also dispatched to assist ethnic minorities to take the tests.
