Hong Kong to mass test city within 3 months to tame outbreak

[HONG KONG] Hong Kong will conduct its mandatory citywide virus testing within 3 months as authorities seek to tame a growing outbreak that's pushed resources to the brink.

The compulsory test will see residents tested 3 times and the programme will be based on Hong Kong identity card numbers and year of birth, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Tuesday (Feb 22).

Most social-distancing restrictions will be in place until mid-or-late April and the ban on inbound flights from 9 countries, including the US, UK and Australia, is extended to Apr 20, she said.

Mass testing is frequently deployed in mainland China to stamp out flareups, but the measure has never before been used in Hong Kong and there are concerns it will come too late. Authorities are imposing increasingly strict measures to try and contain the outbreak, which is now the worst on record for China and bigger than even the crisis in Wuhan at the start of the pandemic.

The announcement comes after health authorities reported 6,211 confirmed cases on Tuesday, with 9,369 preliminary infections. The latter figure reflects specimens that are awaiting a second, confirmatory test and officials have warned of a backlog at several steps of the testing regimen. There were 32 deaths in the past 24 hours and 19 patients are in critical condition.

The surge in numbers has also raised the spectre of a citywide lockdown, another measure used in the mainland but unprecedented for Hong Kong.

Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday that Chinese officials have told Hong Kong they think a lockdown will be needed. While Hong Kong authorities insist a wholesale, full-city lockdown wouldn't be possible, they did say in the discussions that if the number of infections continues to rise so precipitously, curbs may be imposed on areas where cases are particularly rampant. At this stage, Beijing is just making recommendations with decision-making in Hong Kong's hands.

Lam said on Tuesday that there might be localised lockdowns. Hong Kong will increase its sampling and testing capacity to at least 1 million, meaning testing of the entire city will take one week, she said.

While Hong Kong is increasing the number of isolation facilities - including converting hotels - it's unclear if the city will have enough room to house everyone who tests positive during the mass test and Lam highlighted the need for more.

Hong Kong's worsening outbreak is raising questions about the zero-tolerance approach it shares with the mainland. While other parts of the world start to live alongside Covid, Beijing is continuing to pursue elimination, including testing as a key tool in an arsenal that also includes effectively closed borders and lengthy mandatory quarantines.

The city's authorities are under increasing pressure to contain the situation. President Xi Jinping recently instructed its leaders to make fighting the pandemic their top priority and take "all necessary measures" to contain the Covid surge.

Lam said Xia Baolong, who heads Beijing's Hong Kong and Macau Office, is chairing almost daily meeting about Hong Kong in Shenzhen.

Lam also announced schools will bring forward their summer break to March and April, freeing up campuses for testing, isolation or vaccinations. As well as extending current flight bans, Hong Kong may consider expanding the rule to more countries. BLOOMBERG