CE: Requiring all HK residents to test for COVID-19 will be difficult

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Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam answering questions at the Legislative Council. (SCREENSHOT: Information Services Department - isd.gov.hk)

Chief Executive Carrie Lam said mandating all Hong Kong residents to go under COVID-19 testing will be difficult, despite the surge in COVID-19 cases in the city.

Lam said this in response to a question from Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong legislator Ben Chan, a pro-establishment party, who was concerned about the government’s plans to control the number of infections.

“If we go for mandatory universal testing, it won’t achieve the intended objective. It’d be very difficult to do that,” Lam told Chan.

Chan said the public had sought if more could be done to curb the spread of the disease, including more stringent measures such as requiring everyone to install the “Leave Home Safe” app. The app tracks the places users have been to and informs them if a COVID-19 case has been there.

However, Lam said Hong Kong has already implemented strict measures in its bid to stop the disease from spreading. She also said the city must first evaluate its reasons why it wants to do mandatory testing.

“First of all, what will be the objective of the scheme? So if we have to achieve the objective of the scheme, what would we need the community to do?” she said.

Lam also said mandatory testing has been implemented for specific groups—particularly the growing cluster linked to singing and dancing venues—and will continue to do so for other high-risk groups in the future.

The cluster now has 311 cases, after 59 newly-confirmed linked infections were reported by the Centre for Health Protection on Thursday. The 59 infections were among the 81 recorded today, which also included 13 untraceable cases.

There were seven new venues added to the dancing cluster, including a bar in Wong Tai Sin. Earlier, the Hong Kong government announced it will require certain venues to have QR codes for the “Leave Home Safe” app.

Lam said measures may be ramped up to stop the spread of COVID-19.

“It may be difficult to mandate universal testing, but for other measures, yes, there’s room for making them mandatory, and that’s what we’ll do if necessary,” she said.

Hong Kong now has 5,974 recorded COVID-19 cases to date.