Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced on Friday that the government will introduce a universal, voluntary coronavirus testing scheme that could cover millions of Hong Kong people.

Lam said the tests conducted with the support of the central government, can start in two weeks time.

The top officials said its time to further increase the number of coronavirus tests as she warns there could be 1,500 silent carriers of the coronavirus in Hong Kong.

From mid-July, authorities had tested 130,000 people from high-risk groups such as minibus and taxi drivers, those who work in the markets, elderly care homes and restaurants, she said. One out of 2,500 of them tested positive for the virus.

Lam said although in the past few days the number of new cases were less than 100 a day, the situation remains critical.

She said after recording 1,206 cases in the first half of this year, over the last five weeks it has jumped to 3,850 while the number of deaths rose to 46.

She said all walks of life have been affected and around 20 clusters have been identified including places like elderly home, wet markets and groups of taxi drivers.

The CE said the central government attaches great importance to the situation in Hong Kong and pledges to offer all necessary support anytime.

She said she wants to clarify the plan early as there are a lot of rumours and smearing concerning the mainland going on. She urged the public not to be affected by the misleading remarks.

The top officials dismissed privacy concerns, saying testing staff would not know the identities of those who provided the samples.

Lam criticised those who attempted to damage the relationship between the mainland and Hong Kong using conspiracy theories.

(RTHK/Macau News)PHOTO RTHK

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Hong Kong government to offer universal, voluntary coronavirus tests - Macau News