The entire population of nearly 7.5 million people in Hong Kong will have to undergo mandatory Covid-19 testing in March, the city’s leader has announced,Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, said the population would be tested three times in March, and the territory’s testing capacity would be boosted to 1 million a day or more. “Since we have a population of some 7 million people, testing will take about seven days,” she said.
Hong Kong has some of the most densely populated districts on earth. Since 15 February, it has reported about 5,000 new daily infections, with the cases threatening to overwhelm its healthcare system. Hong Kong’s ramped-up response this week came days after China’s leader, Xi Jinping, called on Lam to grasp the “overriding mission” of controlling the outbreak. According to pro-Beijing newspapers in Hong Kong, Xi also expressed his “concern about the pandemic situation”.
But as tensions with the mainland remain, many in the territory are sceptical about a mainland-style mass lockdown. Lam said no such measure was being considered in Hong Kong because it was “not realistic”. On Tuesday, Lam confirmed that flight bans would continue. She said the current barring of flights from nine countries including the US, Australia, Canada and the UK would remain until 20 April. After that, other countries might be added to the list.