Coronavirus: 4,000-strong Hong Kong police squad gears up to help in mass screening exercise, with officers in protective gear, goggles, masks and gloves
- Officers likely to escort infected patients to hospitals or isolation facilities, enforce lockdowns
- Manpower-strapped police force not spared by Omicron, with hundreds of officers testing positive
The Hong Kong Police Force is ready to mobilise its anti-riot squad to help in the city’s mass Covid-19 screening exercise aimed at disrupting the surging fifth wave of infections, the Post has learned.
Force insiders said about 4,000 officers – two-thirds of the 6,000-strong squad – would be ready to be deployed in the second half of this month.
Although their exact duties had not yet been spelt out, a source said they might be assigned to escort infected patients to hospital or community isolation facilities, and enforce lockdowns in sites where residents had to stay at home until they were tested.
Given that only about 12 per cent of officers in the anti-riot squad were women, he said the force was considering whether to assign other female officers for the pandemic exercise.
Hong Kong’s mass Covid-19 screening drive is expected to begin on March 26. Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has said that the entire population must undergo three mandatory tests.
The current wave of infections pushed the number of daily cases from hundreds in the first week of last month to 37,529 on Saturday, the first time since Tuesday the figure has dropped below 40,000. Another 150 Covid-19 patients died in the past 24 hours.
As they could face the risk of infection, the force was studying whether to house them in temporary accommodation for the duration of the mass screening exercise.
With about 500 testing centres set up for the exercise, the source said, the manpower-strapped force was unlikely to have frontline officers stationed at each one.
“We will do an hourly check at each centre and maintain close contact with those in charge of the facilities” he said.
Hong Kong police officers ‘to take daily or weekly coronavirus tests’
The force has not been spared from the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus raging across Hong Kong, the Post learned.
There have been hundreds of infections among officers at each of five police regions since the fifth wave of infections began in late December, with thousands more required to undergo compulsory testing or home isolation.
One of the hardest hit police regions was Kowloon West, where about 700 cases were recorded. It covers Tsim Sha Tsui, Yau Ma Tei, Mong Kok, Sham Shui Po and Kowloon City. About 450 infections were reported in the Hong Kong Island region.
To ensure there would be enough manpower for the mass testing exercise, commanders of various districts and units were recently asked to allocate some of their officers to help out.
For example, officers from the traffic unit’s Composite Company would be available if needed, another source said.
The 6,000-strong anti-riot squad was set up at the height of 2019’s social unrest, drawing officers from various sections. Most had undergone training in riot control.
The squad was disbanded in the second half of 2020, after the social unrest had waned, and the officers returned to their regular duties.
The force established a mechanism to reassemble the squad to meet specific needs. In December, for example, officers from the squad were among more than 10,000 police personnel deployed for the Legislative Council election.
Meanwhile, Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung and the head of the Security Bureau’s anti-epidemic task force, former fire services director Daryl Li Kin-yat, inspected the construction site of a community isolation facility on Ma Sik Road in Fanling on Saturday morning.
The location is one of eight sites selected to build such facilities. One in Tsing Yi has been completed and was handed over to the government on Tuesday.
