Mandatory Covid-19 testing for ‘high-risk’ groups in Hong Kong gets nod, those who ignore orders face jail, fines

Other measures include reintroduction of four-person cap on tables at eateries from Monday, closing times back to midnight from 2am

Regulations could also allow doctors to require any patient suspected to be infected with Covid-19 to undergo testing

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Mandatory Covid-19 testing for ‘high-risk’ groups has been approved by Hong Kong’s Executive Council. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Published: 12:27pm, 14 Nov 2020Updated: 12:03am, 15 Nov 2020

“High-risk” groups in Hong Kong will have to undergo mandatory Covid-19 screening under new measures that come into effect on Sunday, health officials have revealed, warning that those who ignore test orders face six months in jail and fines of HK$25,000.

With the city running into a recent spike in untraceable Covid-19 cases, the new regulations could also allow doctors to require any patient suspected of being infected to undergo testing.

Social-distancing rules would also be tightened with restaurant seating cut to four people per table again from Monday. The government was also planning to tighten rules on gatherings in hotel rooms in response to staycation-linked cases.

The moves aimed to plug loopholes that could enable the spread of the virus.

“To prevent the fourth outbreak of the epidemic, the government needs to quickly tighten anti-epidemic measures to prevent transmission from outside and spreading within the city,” Secretary for Food and Health Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee said on Saturday.

She noted the Executive Council had endorsed mandatory Covid-19 screening for high-risk groups on Friday, adding the authorities would decide when to use the new powers depending on pandemic developments and people’s willingness to take part in the voluntary testing now on offer.