Mandatory tests for all an option: Lam

An SAR-wide mandatory Covid-19 testing scheme was an option, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said yesterday as Hong Kong recorded a two-year high of 6,116 new infections and 6,300 preliminarily positives.

"When we have the capacity a territory-wide Covid testing scheme is an option to be mulled," Lam said. "We can afford the tests with the help of the nation, but we'll need public cooperation."

Lam said this after welcoming a four-strong expert panel from the mainland who arrived yesterday at Shenzhen Bay Port, adding that test capacity could be pumped up to 300,000 a day by the end of this month.

But a firm idea of having all 7.5 million Hongkongers undergo mandatory Covid tests in groups next month with some samples sent to Shenzhen laboratories due to limited capacity in the SAR was already moving along.

With the fifth wave of the pandemic driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant escalating, it is understood the plan is to order everyone to take a test, which would be in groups according to Hong Kong ID numbers.

Up to a million people would be tested every day, and everyone would have to go through three tests within three weeks.

The proposal would not involve locking down districts one by one, but people who fail to comply with the testing order could be fined HK$10,000.

Authorities had considered locking down districts to ensure people get tested, but they eventually ditched the idea because it would cause even greater inconvenience.

But experts are divided on the effectiveness of mass testing without a lockdown.

Joseph Tsang Kay-yan of the Hong Kong Medical Association's advisory committee on communicable diseases said universal testing without a lockdown is meaningless as it could not stop the spread of the coronavirus, and gathering more patients would create a much bigger burden for treatment and isolation facilities.

But infectious disease expert Ho Pak-leung from the University of Hong Kong said a lockdown is unnecessary as the universal tests could be done by rapid tests, and only people with positive results would go to hospitals for confirmatory tests.

Ho also suggested each person should take rapid tests every three days instead of once a week for three weeks.

On immediate action, authorities yesterday were looking to relieve overstretched treatment and isolation facilities.

That saw a new discharge criteria adopted to allow Covid patients who do not live with high-risk groups and who test negative in rapid tests seven days after positive results to return home for another seven days of self-isolation.

That would allow people awaiting admission to isolation facilities to be spared from being sent to Penny's Bay, said Chui Tak-yi, undersecretary for food and health.

But if patients live with vulnerable groups, including people aged 70 and above, mothers-to-be and people receiving chemo- or immuno-therapies, they must stay in isolation facilities for at least 14 days and only leave after testing negative.

"Based on our past experience, a large proportion of young and asymptomatic patients only require medical observation but not treatment," Chui said. "Experts believe it's safe to release them based on rapid test results."

Meanwhile, the SAR's first community isolation hotel at Dorsett Tsuen Wan will commence service today to offer 546 rooms for stable Covid patients.

Government medical expert adviser David Hui Shu-cheong is suggesting Hong Kong adopt Singapore's policy to allow all asymptomatic patients and those with mild symptoms to observe home isolation for seven days.

He also proposed the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai become a makeshift treatment facility to take in stable Covid patients.

Also yesterday, the Hospital Authority called for private doctors to sign on for public service and help manage medical stations in the Penny's Bay community isolation facility.

Hong Kong yesterday reported 24 more Covid-related fatalities - in 14 men and 10 women aged from 36 to 98.

Fifteen died on Wednesday while nine passed away between Friday and Tuesday, taking the SAR's death toll to 258..

Around a dozen patients aged 28 to 97 are in critical condition, including a 28-year-old woman whose condition worsened after going in labor, while more than 60 are in serious condition.

Meanwhile, silent transmission chains were found in Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre and Stanley Prison, so from today all 10,000 people behind bars will be tested.

The operation will last for at least seven days, and in the meantime all court hearings involving defendants in remand facilities will be adjourned.

Lockdowns in Mun Wo House in Tung Chung's Mun Tung Estate and Yiu Ping House in Yiu On Estate, Sha Tin were extended until today after authorities picked up 122 preliminarily positive cases and six uncertain results in residents.

Authorities also cordoned off Mei Wui House in Shek Kip Mei Estate for another lockdown operation after some residents and sewage samples in the building tested positive.