Hong Kong to see three rounds of compulsory virus tests

Hong Kong to see three rounds of compulsory virus tests

HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s population must undergo three rounds of compulsory coronavirus testing, the city’s leader said yesterday, as she confirmed mainland Chinese officials were stepping up oversight of the financial hub’s response to its worst outbreak yet. The densely populated metropolis is in the throes of a record virus surge with thousands of confirmed cases every day threatening to overwhelm hospitals and the city’s strict isolation system.

Yesterday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam revealed a doubling down of the city government’s zero-COVID approach to bring the response much closer to mainland China’s as she admitted local authorities had failed to stamp out the current surge. “This quickly worsening epidemic has far exceeded the Hong Kong government’s ability to tackle it, so there is great need for the central government’s support in fighting the virus,” she told reporters. Xia Baolong, Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macau affairs chief, was coordinating the mainland’s response from the border city of Shenzhen, she added.

Under the new rules, all 7.4 million residents will have to go through three rounds of compulsory testing in March, although Lam did not give a start date. The tests will be spread out over a number of days with residents also having