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Coronavirus pandemic
Hong KongHealth & Environment

Hong Kong third wave: free Covid-19 tests for residents as mainland Chinese clinical teams head to city

  • Sixty lab technicians from public hospitals in Guangdong province will be picked for Hong Kong stint
  • Separate team of experts expected to soon begin work at temporary hospital at expo site

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Patients at the AsiaWorld-Expo makeshift hospital will be cared for by 14 doctors and 50 nurses. Photo: Dickson Lee
Elizabeth Cheung,Zhuang Pinghui,Lilian ChengandChan Ho-him
Free Covid-19 testing will be made available to Hong Kong’s 7.5 million residents and about 60 clinical technicians from mainland China will be sent to help, with seven set to arrive on Sunday.

Four health advisers, however, suggested at a government meeting on Saturday that testing should focus on high-risk groups, rather than across the city, which was not cost-effective without a lockdown, sources told the Post.

Details of the mass testing were revealed by state broadcaster CCTV and the national health authorities a day after the cabinet-level Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office said Beijing would send help to Hong Kong following a request from local authorities.

03:02

Hong Kong’s first makeshift Covid-19 hospital in operation amid third wave of coronavirus crisis

Hong Kong’s first makeshift Covid-19 hospital in operation amid third wave of coronavirus crisis

China’s National Health Commission, which revealed details of the testing offer in a statement, also said another team of six experts from Wuhan, where the first Covid-19 cases were reported, would help Hong Kong authorities develop a temporary “cabin hospital”, as the city’s medical facilities were stretched to the limit.

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CCTV reported on Saturday that the central government would “do its utmost” to help Hong Kong battle the outbreak.

Citing unidentified sources, the broadcaster said Covid-19 nucleic tests would be free for all residents and the central government would shoulder the fees.

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The test teams would remain in Hong Kong until the epidemic was under control and transmission chains cut off, the report said.

The makeshift hospital has 500 beds. Photo: Dickson Lee
The makeshift hospital has 500 beds. Photo: Dickson Lee
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