Hong Kong: New mobile testing station set up
The Government has arranged for a testing agency to set up a mobile specimen collection station at the open area outside Fung Chak House in Choi Wan (II) Estate to provide COVID-19 testing services.
The station was set up after a government-sponsored study by the University of Hong Kong found that sewage samples from Fung Chak House constantly tested positive for the virus.
The station provides free testing services for the estate’s residents and workers.
It will tentatively run until December 31 and operate from 10am to 8pm from today.
Additionally, the mobile specimen collection station at the basketball court next to Ming Lai House at the estate will extend its services to December 31.
South China Morning Post
All residents of a Wong Tai Sin public housing block with 731 flats will be required to undergo mandatory Covid-19 testing after Hong Kong’s sewage monitoring programme detected coronavirus in waste samples taken across four days.
The news emerged as the city expected more than 60 cases on Monday, according to a medical source.
Local health authorities said a testing order had been issued covering all residents as well as recent visitors to Fung Chak House in Choi Wan (II) Estate.
“We hope the results [of the sewage testing] can provide early signals before we identify confirmed cases,” said Professor Zhang Tong of the University of Hong Kong’s department of civil engineering, the man in charge of the monitoring scheme backed by the Food and Health Bureau and the Environment Bureau.
More to be tested at Choi Wan Estate as sewage coronavirus test returns positive thestandard.com.hk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thestandard.com.hk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Hong Kong: Mandatory virus tests for estate
(To watch the full media session with sign language interpretation, click here.)
The Government today gazetted a compulsory testing notice to require people who had been at Fung Chak House, Choi Wan (II) Estate for more than two hours from December 15 to 28 to undergo COVID-19 testing by December 31.
It had earlier sponsored a multi-disciplinary team at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) to conduct a preliminary study on monitoring the COVID-19 virus level in sewage.
The study revealed that the sewage samples in Ming Lai House and Fung Chak House at the estate constantly tested positive, implying that people infected with the virus might be present at the relevant places.
Sewage virus find triggers Choi Wan block tests thestandard.com.hk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thestandard.com.hk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.