Coronavirus: 82,000 Hongkongers tested in first eight hours of Covid-19 screening scheme despite boycott calls
- Number of people tested climbs as screening gets under way on Tuesday at 141 centres across all 18 districts of the city
- Critics have raised fears over privacy and wasting resources, but 650,000 residents have registered for the tests so far
About 82,000 Hong Kong residents were tested for the coronavirus eight hours after the universal testing programme launched on Tuesday, amid calls from activists and some health workers for a boycott.
The effort began at 8am sharp, with workers taking samples from residents at 141 collection centres across all 18 of the city’s districts. By 4pm, about 82,000 people had been tested, according to Patrick Nip Tak-kuen, the secretary for the civil service.
He also said that 650,000 people had registered for the programme, which was expected to run for a week but could be extended for another week. The number is still just a fraction of the city’s population of about 7.5 million.
In an attempt to encourage people to sign up, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, her ministers and cabinet members, were among the first to be tested on Tuesday.
“The whole process and experience is safe, simple, convenient and fast,” said Lam, who was tested with colleagues at the government headquarters at Tamar.
Health experts taking the test themselves appealed to the public to respect individual choices over whether to do so – with the scheme becoming highly politicised in recent days – as they called for regular screening for high-risk groups once the universal system ends.
To get tested or not?
At City Hall in Central, there was no line of people waiting to get tested.