Universal testing is by no means new. Last year, the government tried voluntary testing across the territory, but the response was mediocre.
On the contrary, if we want to implement compulsory testing in Hong Kong, we must cooperate with a large-scale quarantine order. The two solutions are either low-efficiency or difficult to implement in Hong Kong. However, in the face of the intensified fifth wave of the epidemic, the call for national testing has grown again. A new idea came up at the top of the government, that is, the middle-of-the-road solution. For severely affected areas such as Kwai Chung, a limited number of days will be implemented, and the citizens of the entire district will be fully tested. If they do not test, they will be fined.
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The National Voluntary Testing Program, renamed the "Universal Community Testing Program", was implemented during the third wave of the epidemic last September. As a result, about 1.78 million people participated in the testing program, accounting for about 20% of Hong Kong's population. There were 32 confirmed cases, with a confirmed rate of about 0.0014%.
Since the "voluntary plan" has not been effective, since the outbreak of the fifth wave of the epidemic, many Legislative Council members and online opinion leaders have been calling for the implementation of compulsory testing in Hong Kong as soon as possible.
Yesterday (21st), Chen Manqi, a representative of the National People's Congress and a member of the Legislative Council, submitted a proposal to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, requesting the central government to assist Hong Kong in compulsory testing.
Chen Manqi believes that the local epidemic is severe, and the government must seriously consider mandatory national testing and seek assistance from the central government.
At the same time, the SAR government should learn from the experience of last year and implement the nationwide emergency testing action during the outbreak.
She said that last year, the mainland sent people to Hong Kong to assist, but only 1.78 million people participated in the test. She believed that it was because the government did not implement coercive measures and did not have sufficient publicity.
In fact, Hong Kong has always implemented mandatory testing, but it is only "community testing", which the government calls RTD (restriction-testing declaration), which has statutory effect.
However, this plan encloses a building every day, and in one night, it completes the detection of hundreds to 1,000 or 2,000 cases.
On the contrary, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has repeatedly stated that the implementation of universal testing in Hong Kong must be carried out in conjunction with the nationwide "foot restraint order".
In the face of the current outbreak of Kwai Chung Village, the momentum is extremely violent, and the high-level government has indeed considered further testing plans.
According to the reporter of "Hong Kong 01", the high-level government began to discuss an intermediate solution plan. Since Hong Kong's daily testing volume is about 100,000, and Hong Kong citizens generally accept the plan for the target area, which means that there is an outbreak in a certain area, only for the target area. The citizens of a certain district are subject to compulsory quarantine, and the citizens of that district may be more "convinced" to go for compulsory testing.
For example, if the entire area of Kwai Chung is currently being tested and mandatory testing is carried out within five to ten days, as long as the arrangement is properly arranged, the residents of the area may not be too disgusted.
However, this plan still involves many considerations, such as: How to recover the fine of 5,000 yuan? A source close to the government believes that it can be dealt with according to the principle of deterrence, that is, not testing the future or being charged, but the investigation time is In the long term, it will only be sued once it is investigated.
Of course, there are still some issues, such as: telling the public how the Kwai Chung District is defined? Which citizens live in the district are all items that must be carefully considered.
Since it is impossible to handle the nationwide testing of 7.5 million people, the testing of thousands of people or the current community testing of tens of thousands of people in Kwai Chung Village may not be able to solve the current crisis of temperature rise. Therefore, the testing of the whole area of Kwai Chung may be as many as hundreds of thousands. Although people's plans may not be easy to accomplish, they are also worth thinking about.
More than 40 cleaners in Kwai Chung Village sent garbage for inspection, but no one dumped the garbage at Yak Kwai House. The first day of rubbish closure in Kwai Chung Village. ｜Zhang Zhujun expects the continuous increase of cases involving all walks of life: do not think that the flu is not tested, Kwai Chung Village now has 105 positive cases, which has increased by 5 times on the 3rd, and more than 40 cleaners in Xiao Kwai House are quarantined in Kwai Chung Village. When the whole people test, Chen Yingxin recommends batch or door-to-door testing