Coronavirus: Hong Kong leader sets out target of zero infections with community testing, as city confirms 85 new cases

Name: Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam delivers 2020 policy address
Uploaded: 2020-11-25T04:08:01.000Z
Duration: 4 min 47 s
Description: Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam delivers 2020 policy address

Government could implement large-scale universal community testing again in a bid to achieve the target, Carrie Lam says

Seven-day ban on bars, nightclubs and bath houses kicks in on Thursday, but dance studios are allowed to continue operating

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Hong Kong residents line up for coronavirus testing. Photo: Felix Wong

Phila Siu,Gigi ChoyandRachel Yeo

Published: 12:08pm, 25 Nov 2020Updated: 12:18am, 26 Nov 2020

Hong Kong confirmed 85 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, the highest daily increase in more than three months, as the city’s leader declared that another community testing scheme could be introduced to achieve “zero infections”.

Hours after Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor set out the target in her annual policy address, the Centre for Health Protection revealed that of the newly confirmed cases, 63 were linked to a ballooning dance club cluster, bringing the total to 250 infections.

The city also logged about 60 preliminarily positive cases.

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Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam delivers 2020 policy address

About 5,000 people linked to the cluster had already been tested, health officials said.

Sixteen local confirmed cases were untraceable – the highest recorded since August 8 – while one was imported from Britain.

“On breaking the virus transmission chain in the community, we mandate high-risk groups to undergo virus tests, and will provide voluntary virus testing service for people without symptoms on a wider scale, or may even implement large-scale universal community testing again in a bid to achieve the target of ‘zero transmission’,” Lam said in her address.

On whether such community testing would be mandatory, Lam told a subsequent press briefing that it would be more realistic and effective to conduct compulsory tests on targeted clusters or communities.