300,000 test kits to be given away as Delta source eludes authorities

Wallis Wang

A total of 300,000 Covid rapid test kits will be distributed to the public in the coming few weeks, according to the government.

Some 3,000 test kits were already distributed to Tuen Mun residents on Friday.

The Home Affairs Department said the test kits will be distributed to people in need, including the elderly, domestic helpers and those who have concerns about their health.

But it did not reveal the brand of the test kits and details of distribution. The department merely said those in need should contact district offices.

It also stressed the rapid test kit cannot replace swab tests. People who are subject to the government's compulsory test notices must go to testing centers to undergo professional swab tests.

Meanwhile, the source of the Delta infection of a pet shop worker has yet to be identified, prompting Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee to describe the case as "strange."

Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said the 23-year-old worker at Little Boss pet shop in Causeway Bay was infected with the sub-lineage AY.4.2 of the Delta strain.

The woman's variant, which is more common in Pakistan, was not related to other local cases, Chuang said.

"The saleswoman is still an unlinked local infection, so we are tracing all the possibilities to try to find out all the possible sources of infection," she said. "But we do not have an exact cause at the moment."

Chuang said health authorities and the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department have conducted tests on animals and taken environmental samples at the shop, which mainly sells rabbits, hamsters and chinchillas from the Netherlands.

Chan said it is "strange" to detect a new Delta case as the variant had not been detected in the Hong Kong community for more than two months. Delta was first discovered in India in October 2020.

Hong Kong recorded seven new cases yesterday, including four locally transmitted infections and three imported, taking the city's Omicron tally to 428 and the overall Covid tally to 13,041 cases.

Another three confirmed cases are family members of the previously infected 19-year-old Hong Kong Tang King Po College student. Chuang also said nine family members and friends of a 43-year-old infected Pakistani woman, who contracted the virus at Silka Seaview Hotel in Yau Ma Tei, also tested preliminary positive.

Hong Kong recorded less than 20 preliminary positive cases in total yesterday, Chuang added. The Kui Wo House at Tai Wo Estate in Tai Po was also locked down from 7pm yesterday as a resident living there tested preliminary positive.

Separately, Secretary for Home Affairs Caspar Tsui Ying-wai left Penny's Bay last night after authorities shortened the quarantine period from 21 days to 14. He will be observing seven days of self-surveillance at home and take Covid tests.

Tsui and four lawmakers who attended National People's Congress deputy Witman Hung Wai-man's birthday party on January 3 were sent to the quarantine camp after another guest tested positive for Omicron.

At the same time, experts from two Department of Health scientific committees said they have no objection on vaccination for children aged five to 11.

wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com