A medical expert dismisses concerns of “false positives” in the citywide virus test, which is scheduled to begin on September 1.

Speaking on a radio program, David Hui Shu-cheong, respiratory medicine expert from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, urged the public to join the government’s mass testing scheme.

He explained that confirmed cases are still increasing daily in the SAR, despite the government’s highly stringent social distancing measures and increased testing capacity since the third wave of Covid-19 early-July, meaning that the virus has spread across the community.

“The daily tally of cases has stayed around 20 or so for more than two weeks, it seems the virus has spread across different sectors, people from all walks of life are infected. Cases with unknown sources account for at least 30 percent of the tally, so there are still hidden transmission links in the community.” Hui said.

He believes the citywide test scheme starting next Tuesday could help authorities to identify asymptomatic patients and cut off hidden transmissions so that Hongkongers can return to their normal daily routines.

However, he added the scheme can only be effective given a high participation rate.

Hui said he noted raised concerns about the possibility of “false positives” in the scheme, but he assured that health authorities would not quarantine people who are preliminarily positive immediately.

He added health authorities from the Department of Health would double-check the samples before sending confirmed patients to hospitals.

The tests will take place across 141 venues in Hong Kong, but dissident residents living near the centers have complained about the higher chances of infections.

Hui said the ventilation in the venues - including community centers and school halls – is generally good, and urged citizens not to worry about crowds gathering as a certain amount of participants would be assigned to designated timeslots.

Asked if the government should further relax its social distancing measures, Hui said it would take one to two more weeks to see if there are hidden outbreaks in eateries.

“The government could consider lifting its restrictions on the cap of customers to four per table in eateries gradually, but there would still be a limit for that. And the operation hours could not be too long to prevent large crowds from gathering.”

On Friday night, the government has relaxed its social distancing measures by extending restaurants’ operation hours from 6pm to 9pm and allowing the re-openings of beauty salons and cinemas.

"False positives" are unlikely in citywide virus test, David Hui says