Thread by @hkfp

BREAKING: Hong Kong to undergo citywide compulsory Covid testing, schools to halt early for summer

hongkongfp.com/2022/02/22/bre…

With the help on the Central government, Hong Kong will implement citywide testing, Chief Executive Carrie Lam has announced. Three rounds of testing will be conducted, said Lam on Tuesday, and no less than one million tests will be carried out per day.

Hundreds of testing stations will be set up across the city, and the testing order will be determined using the year of birth. Booking is required, and a "caring arrangement" will be available for people to bring along the elderly or children.

Residents will also be asked to conduct daily self-testing between each compulsory test, and test kits will be provided to citizens. The compulsory testing will begin in March, and the government will impose more area-specific lockdowns in the interim, said Lam.

Lam said that quarantining those who test positive is still the government's goal, even though an estimated 30,000 Covid patients are still waiting to be sent to quarantine facilities.

Government departments will have to arrange quarantine facilities for their own civil servants who tested positive, said Lam.

The ban on flights from nine countries will be extended until April 21.