The Hong Kong government on Tuesday (Sept. 1) began a nationwide free neo-coronavirus test throughout the territory. But Hong Kong’s medical community has expressed doubts about the validity of similar mass testing in the mainland, and some pan-democratic groups and figures have called for a boycott.
The testing campaign began at 8 a.m., with more than 60 medical teams from the mainland testing people for the virus. This is the first time that a mainland Chinese medical team has entered Hong Kong to directly help in the fight against the disease. In addition, more than 5,000 volunteers worked at the testing sites.
About 141 testing centers have been set up in 18 districts of Hong Kong, and the testing is scheduled to be completed within half a month. About 600,000 people have already signed up to participate.
More than 10,000 people, most of them principal officials of the Hong Kong government and members of the HKSAR Executive Council, have been tested Tuesday morning, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said at a press conference before Tuesday’s Executive Council meeting.
Mrs. Lam said the testing process is safe and simple, and that the tests are beneficial to the fight against the epidemic, which is good for society, and called on the public to actively participate in identifying hidden transmitters.
The government said that the number of people tested per day will increase from 12,000 per day to 500,000 per day. The government hopes that 5 million people will be tested. The total population of Hong Kong is 7.5 million.
The national virus test comes at a special time. In July of this year, Beijing imposed the National Security Law in Hong Kong, which led to a dramatic change in the political situation in Hong Kong. Hong Kong people’s trust in the Hong Kong government and the central government is in serious jeopardy.
Carrie Lam told a press conference that Hong Kong’s executive, legislative and judicial powers come from Beijing. She said, “We derive our power from the central government’s authority over Hong Kong.”
Reuters said her statement could further add to fears that Hong Kong will turn further toward authoritarianism.
Hong Kong’s pro-democracy HA Staff Front group, as well as some activists, called for a boycott of the testing on Sunday. The Hong Kong government responded that personal information would be attached to the sample bottles, and that all samples would be destroyed in Hong Kong after the test.
Employee groups raised a number of questions about the testing. They argue that “false negatives” can have serious consequences, causing people with false negative results to believe that they are healthy enough to engage in social activities, which can lead to larger infections.
According to the WHO, they claim that mass testing is wasteful and inefficient. If resources permit, testing should be concentrated on close contacts or those suspected of being infected to identify these cases.
The Staff Side also argues that universal testing is not the right way to intercept the source of the virus, and that the most practical way is to seal the door and strengthen citizens’ awareness of personal hygiene.
The organization’s chairperson Yu Hui Ming pointed out that universal testing must be supported by a city closure and home order, and testing must be done for all citizens in a short period of time. It is also a good idea to have a comprehensive list of the most common health care services available.
Mrs. Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor rebutted the claims of the Hospital Authority Employee Front point by point on Tuesday. She said it is practically impossible for Hong Kong to impose a total ban. The goal of the Hong Kong government’s anti-epidemic campaign is to allow people to continue to go to work and come and go, and to allow overseas Hong Kong residents to return to Hong Kong of their own free will. She hoped that the Employee’s Front would support the testing program.
Another factor that has raised questions about the need for such large-scale testing is that Hong Kong’s daily number of new cases of confirmed cases has dropped sharply to single digits, down from triple digits a few weeks ago.
The official number of new cases in Hong Kong on Monday was 9. The cumulative number of confirmed cases in Hong Kong is now 4,810.
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