Letters | Three ways Hong Kong airport coronavirus screening could be made faster and safer

All the check points at the airport are well organised and staff deserve praise for their diligent work

However, fewer check points would help prevent passengers from different flights mingling and reduce the need for contact tracing

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An official directs travellers towards a quarantine area in the arrivals hall of Hong Kong airport on July 15. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 7:25am, 11 Oct 2020Updated: 7:25am, 11 Oct 2020

It was wonderful to return to Hong Kong after 280 days of lockdown in India. I landed in Hong Kong at 9.55am on October 6. All the passengers had a QR code on our mobiles, generated after filling up the Hong Kong health declaration form before arrival.

We had all heard stories of anything from eight to 36 hours of waiting for the Covid-19 test on arrival. Not knowing what to expect, around 177 of us on the flight disembarked and started queuing up for our tests.

There were a total of seven check points. The first point was for checking our temperature and whether we had our QR codes, while video recording all arrivals; the second was for checking contact numbers, the third was to get the StayHomeSafe bracelet, the fourth was for checking our Covid-19 test reports from India and collecting the plastic tube for the saliva sample.

At the fifth point, we needed to cautiously deposit our sample in the tube, which we submitted at the sixth point. At the seventh point, we collected a tag instructing us where to wait for the test results.

The first person to complete the formalities finished around 10.15am and the last around 3pm. We got our results around 11.30pm, after a wait of around 13 hours.

All the points were well organised, with many officers carefully checking details. Allocating properly distanced space for passengers to wait for their results inside the airport itself, instead of transporting passengers to AsiaWorld-Expo, is a commendable idea.

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Letters | Three ways Hong Kong airport coronavirus screening could be made faster and safer