Exclusive | Coronavirus: Hong Kong mass testing ‘could be postponed to April’ in focus shift to elderly care, reducing death rate
- Sources say ‘nothing is cast in stone’ on time frame for massive exercise, and Beijing has never set an exact date
- Hong Kong has recorded high numbers of daily Covid-19 deaths, surpassing 100 over the past week
Hong Kong could postpone its Covid-19 mass testing to April as part of a shift in focus to reducing coronavirus death rates and caring for the elderly, sources have said with the city in the throes of a fifth wave of infections.
Insiders told the Post that conducting mass screening at the peak of the outbreak would be “useless”, unless the city had prepared an adequate number of isolation facilities.
A source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday that top city officials were considering the strategy shift as a result of the changing situation.
“Now the priority is to reduce the death rate and care for the elderly,” the insider said.
But sources added that “nothing is cast in stone” in regards to the time frame for mass testing.
Expert proposes ‘closed-loop’ approach in Hong Kong care homes to cut Covid deaths
“The Hong Kong government only put March as a planning parameter. The central government has never set a time frame,” the source said.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said on February 22 the government was preparing for mass testing to be conducted in March.
Previous sources also said the exercise could begin from March 26, but the exact timing and details of a potential lockdown as part of mass testing had yet to be finalised.
But the insider on Tuesday said authorities were still considering whether testing should begin in late March or late April, adding: “Both options are still open.”
Ronny Tong Ka-wah, a member of Lam’s de facto cabinet, told the Post that, based on the trend of the latest outbreak, the chances of beginning mass testing in March were not high.
“We don’t have the capacity in terms of places in isolation facilities,” he said.
“The conditions for launching the scheme would be ideal when the daily caseload drops to 10,000 and we have adequate isolation facilities to accommodate Covid patients,” Tong said.
03:59
Hong Kong public hospitals hanging by a thread amid surge of fifth-wave Covid cases
Schools have brought forward summer holidays for students from March until April 17, with campuses expected to be used as testing centres during the initiative.
Whether school premises could be used for screening residents if the programme is pushed back to late April is among the issues yet to be addressed by the administration.
Lin Chun-pong, chairman of the Hong Kong Association of the Heads of Secondary Schools, said postponing mass testing could significantly affect students sitting their university entrance examinations, set for April 22.
“Whether the exam will kick off as scheduled now comes into question,” he said, adding that it would not affect the education of Secondary One to Five students as they were already used to attending online classes.
Another source familiar with Beijing’s line of thinking also told the Post that mass testing was likely to be postponed to April.
“When the universal screening should be launched hinges on the trend of the fifth wave of infections,” the source said. “It is best done at the beginning of a wave. We have missed the golden opportunity.
“Testing at the peak of the pandemic is useless unless you have adequate isolation facilities,” the source added.
Writing on his official blog on Sunday, Chief Secretary John Lee Ka-chiu said that thanks to the support of mainland China, the development of nine isolation facilities was under way, ensuring more than 50,000 beds would be available by April.
Why haven’t Hong Kong’s private hospitals stepped up in Covid fight?
On Tuesday, Hong Kong recorded 30,493 coronavirus cases – including 2,018 infections confirmed by rapid antigen tests – and reported 291 deaths, which included backlogged ones.
But government pandemic advisers have warned that Hong Kong’s isolation facilities could struggle to accommodate the large number of Covid-19 cases detected by mass testing.
In an interview with state media outlet Xinhua on Monday, Dr Liang Wannian, leader of the National Health Commission’s Covid Response Expert Team, proposed a closed-loop arrangement involving tight restrictions on the movement of personnel and residents of care homes as a way to cut cases and deaths among the elderly.
“Dr Liang’s views were shared by top Beijing officials,” the mainland political source said.
“The Hong Kong government should now focus on the tasks highlighted by [Vice-Premier Han Zheng], such as reducing death rates,” a second source close to Beijing said.
Reducing the death rate and caring for the elderly were among the points raised by Han, the state leader overseeing Hong Kong affairs.
Additional reporting by William Yiu
