The Hong Kong government on Friday announced voluntary, universal mass testing for COVID-19 with assistance from central authorities after the city saw a recent jump in infections.
Any resident in the special administrative region can be tested for free. The large-scale testing campaign is expected to cover millions of people and is scheduled to take place over two weeks, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuetngor said at a news conference on Friday.
The SAR reported 89 new infections on Friday, of which 81 were locally transmitted, bringing total infections to 3,938, including 46 deaths since the outbreak began earlier this year.
Since July 5, more than 2,680 confirmed cases have been reported in Hong Kong, more than double the 1,258 cases reported during the previous six months since the outbreak surfaced in January. About 40 percent of cases confirmed after July 5 were untraceable.
Lam did not detail how residents would be tested but stressed that several principles would be followed, including the entire testing and results return process being completed in a short time, social distancing maintained and privacy of those being tested protected.
In the meantime, the city will continue to expand testing of high-risk groups, especially those who have frequent contact with others including postal delivery staff and hotel receptionists, she said. Unemployed foreign domestic helpers in the city and pregnant women will also be included in the campaign.
Since the outbreak began in January, the government has tested more than 837,000 people, with 700,000 tests carried out in government-run labs.
