New World Development has partnered with Hong Kong-based biotech start-up Prenetics to donate 200,000 Covid-19 test kits to low-income families, as a record surge in coronavirus infections in the city has led to a huge demand for early detection. The test kits will be sent to six local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who will distribute them to low-income families later this month, according to a statement from the company. The six NGOs are Evangelical Lutheran Church Social Service-Hong Kong, Hong Kong Lutheran Social Service, Society for Community Organisation, Hong Kong Young Women’s Christian Association, Children’s Cancer Foundation and St James’ Settlement. “By providing rapid antigen test kits to the grassroots, we hope to ease their burden and worries under the haze of the coronavirus,” said Adrian Cheng Chi-kong, CEO of New World Development. The developer also said that it would distribute rapid testing kits to all its employees and their family members this month. Two free rapid testing kits will also be distributed to each household residing in residential estates under their management. “It is time for us to step up and take responsibility and help each other as much as we can,” said Cheng. “Now is the critical time for us to work together, and support and care for Hong Kong.” On Wednesday, Hong Kong logged more than 1,000 confirmed coronavirus infections for the first time since the pandemic began, while the deaths of two chronically ill patients marked the city’s first Covid-19 fatalities in six months. Residents have rushed to buy up rapid antigen test (RAT) kits both online and in stores, with those receiving positive results rushing to hospitals rather than staying at home to await official instructions, adding even more pressure on the system. “Moving forward, it would require both government and the private sector to secure millions of rapid testing kits in advance to fight off any wave and to control the pandemic,” said Prenetics CEO Danny Yeung in an emailed response to the Post . “The shortage issue certainly was unforeseen given how well the situation was here in Hong Kong,” he added. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said last Friday that the government would secure “tens of millions” of Covid-19 rapid testing kits to carry out voluntary screening among the entire population. Given the urgent shortage of rapid testing kits, Prenetics’ Yeung added that they were ramping up manufacturing production of RAT kits and HealthPod test kits. In September, Prenetics merged with Artisan Acquisition Company , a blank-cheque company backed by Cheng , the third-generation scion of one of Hong Kong’s wealthiest families, in a deal that valued the start-up at US$1.25 billion. As the city’s government turns to RAT to detect and fight the more transmissive Omicron strain, Hong Kong biotech start-up Phase Scientific International (PSI) said it aims to raise its production capacity for Covid-19 rapid test kits fivefold to 50 million kits a month by June. The city’s Home Affairs Department bought 300,000 kits from PSI ahead of the Lunar New Year. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-backed company last July became the first in the mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan region to win approval from the US Food and Drugs Administration for emergency use for its Covid-19 kit.