Elderly Hongkonger arrested after stealing box of saliva samples from coronavirus collection point to use as an umbrella

The 82-year-old man took the deep-throat saliva specimens from a general outpatient clinic on Po Ning Road, in Tseung Kwan O, on Thursday afternoon, but the box was not located for several hours, and people who submitted samples will have to be retested.

Police finally found it at Hau Tak Estate at 7.45pm, and subsequently arrested the man on suspicion of theft.

The clinic, which acts as a collection point for respiratory samples under the government’s enhanced laboratory surveillance scheme, discovered they were missing around 1pm, when it was raining heavily.

Staff checked the surrounding area, while a police source said security camera footage showed the man leaving the clinic and taking the box to protect himself against the rain.