Hong Kong eyes lowering costs of Covid-19 tests, but cross-border health certificate plan for mainland still in limbo

Health secretary insists progress being made and ‘talks still going on’ seven weeks after travel plan was first mooted

Local businessmen, meanwhile, complain that high cost of tests at local clinics prohibitive for those who would be travelling frequently

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Covid-19 testing in private Hong Kong clinics can run as high as HK$3,500, far higher than versions being done on the mainland and in Macau. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 8:22pm, 16 Jun 2020Updated: 10:40pm, 16 Jun 2020

Hong Kong’s health authorities are planning to bring down the cost of private Covid-19 testing by introducing more competition, though a plan to lift border restrictions with mainland China via a mutually recognised health certificate is still in the works seven weeks after its announcement.

To contain the spread of the coronavirus, both city authorities and their counterparts in neighbouring Guangdong province and Macau have imposed a compulsory 14-day quarantine on cross-border travellers, including most businessmen and students.

Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee said on May 2 that the governments were exploring a mechanism to mutually recognise the health status of each other’s residents via an electronic health certificate.

Travellers travel from Hong Kong to mainland China through the Shenzhen Bay Port in February, before Covid-19 mitigation steps largely closed the border. Photo: Felix Wong

To do that, Hongkongers would have to take a Covid-19 test at a private institution, as the public laboratories under the health department and Hospital Authority have ruled out providing the service.

Asked whether the plan had run into obstacles at a press conference on Tuesday, Chan insisted some progress had been reached.