The new crown pneumonia epidemic in Hong Kong continues.
The Food and Health Bureau announced today (2nd) that it will provide free nucleic acid testing services for COVID-19 at community testing centers and mobile sampling stations for all eligible persons with high-risk and high-exposure specific groups, as well as all seniors aged 70 or above , so that seniors who are at higher risk of infection can seek medical treatment and receive prescription treatment drugs as soon as possible.
The authorities emphasized that the free testing arrangement will be maintained until the end of this month, and the government will regularly review the coverage and frequency of testing for specific groups, and whether the testing should be funded by public funds, based on the latest epidemic risk assessment.
If it is not due to health reasons, people in certain groups will continue to pay a 240 yuan testing fee for regular testing according to the current arrangement.
For those who are subject to mandatory testing, community testing centres will continue to provide free services.
▼Specific arrangements for specific groups▼
According to the Food and Health Bureau, nearly 90% of the deaths recorded in the fifth wave of the epidemic are elderly people aged 70 or above, and about 70% of them have not been vaccinated.
Among the unvaccinated elderly people aged 80 or above, about one in six infected people died, the unvaccinated elderly between 70 and 79 years old died, one in 18 infected people died, and the elderly who had received three doses of the vaccine died The fatality rate has dropped by at least 90%.
▼On April 1, Cuifu Building, Cuifu Building, Cuiwan Village, Chaiwan was closed and inspected ▼
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The authorities call for testing to effectively identify infection early, and encourage the elderly to use the rapid antigen test kit in the epidemic prevention service kit to test themselves, and wear the KN95 mask in the service kit when going out or having visitors.
Taking into account the needs of the elderly, the authorities stated that about 100 community testing centers and mobile sampling stations in various districts in Hong Kong will provide free nucleic acid tests for the new coronavirus that require no appointment and are sampled by professionals for all elderly people aged 70 or above.
The authorities pointed out that if the test result is negative), the elderly should seize the time to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
▼On March 31, Zetian Building in Baitian Village was closed for inspection▼
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In addition, the authorities stated that they will continue to regularly conduct large-scale testing for individual industry practitioners belonging to high-risk and high-exposure groups.
Regardless of whether the vaccination has been completed, the regular mandatory testing of all specific groups of persons must be carried out with combined nasal and throat swab samples collected by professionals. The arrangement applies to all full-time and part-time employees in the relevant industry.
Due to the high risk of infection among certain groups of people, only those who have tested positive in the past month can be exempted from the above-mentioned periodic mandatory nucleic acid test temporarily.
However, the authorities stressed that only certain groups of people who have been vaccinated against the new crown virus, or who are unsuitable for receiving the new crown vaccine for health reasons, are eligible for free testing at community testing centers.
The person concerned must present a valid medical certificate, vaccination record or identification document.
If it is not due to health reasons, people in certain groups must pay a testing fee of 240 yuan for regular testing.
The authorities pointed out that in response to the Education Bureau’s revision of the testing requirements for school staff who have not received the first dose of the vaccine, eligible school staff will be able to go to community testing centers for free testing every seven days.
▼The price of the rapid antigen test varies greatly on March 31▼
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Do people who have recovered from the national rapid test need to participate?
Zhang Zhujun: Opportunity for rapid detection of "yin to yang" micro-epidemic | The government continues to empower doctors to compulsorily test patients suspected of having the virus within 14 days from today and block the area | The two villages of Lijing Garden and Chai Wan with positive sewage samples are closed for testing and the government has the opportunity Replacing national testing with rapid testing The best time for national testing will be announced to quickly test the infection situation