A spokesman for the Food and Health Bureau reminded the public today (October 9) that services at the community testing centres (CTCs) were suspended today as Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 8 is in force and persons who were unable to undergo testing as a result may make bookings again or go to the CTCs for walk-in service upon service resumption. Separately, the Government will reopen mobile specimen collection stations at several locations tomorrow (October 10) for persons who are subject to compulsory testing as they resided or worked within the same building as the residence of local COVID-19 cases with a mutant strain.
Also, the period for undergoing compulsory testing will be extended for one day if Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 3 or above, or the Red or Black Rainstorm Warning Signal or the post-super typhoon "extreme conditions" announcement by the Government is in force at any time during the period for undergoing compulsory testing. The relevant testing deadline for compulsory testing notice announced on October 7 will hence be extended by one day to tomorrow.
Should inclement weather conditions persist tomorrow, the opening arrangements of CTCs and mobile specimen collection stations will be as follows:
- CTCs: if Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal no. 8 is cancelled before or at 6pm (i.e. two hours before the original closing time of CTCs) tomorrow, service of the CTCs will start to resume within two hours after the cancellation of signal;
- Indoor mobile specimen collection stations: if Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal no. 8 is cancelled before or at 2pm tomorrow, service of indoor mobile specimen collection stations will start to resume within two hours after the cancellation of signal;
- Outdoor mobile specimen collection stations: if Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal no. 3 is cancelled before or at noon tomorrow, outdoor mobile specimen collection stations will be gradually reopened within several hours after the cancellation of signal. In case the signal is cancelled after noon tomorrow, then outdoor mobile specimen collection stations will not be reopened for the day. Persons who need to undergo COVID-19 testing may proceed to CTCs or indoor mobile specimen collection stations for testing.
As persons who resided or worked within the same building as the residence of local COVID-19 cases with a mutant strain will be subject to compulsory testing on the third, seventh, 12th and 19th days following the announcement of the relevant confirmed cases by the Department of Health (DH), the Government will reopen mobile specimen collection stations at the following locations tomorrow to provide free testing service for residents and workers subject to compulsory testing:
- Children's Playground, 5/F Podium, Island Place, North Point
- Podium of Tung Yik Building, Yuen Long
- Open area outside Golden Glory Court, Phase 1, Golden Lion Garden, Tai Wai
CTCs provide testing services for the public, including free service for persons subject to compulsory testing. Booking and walk-in services are available. Members of the public only need to provide simple personal information on the 24-hour booking system (www.communitytest.gov.hk/en). The system shows the booking status of the centres for the coming two weeks to facilitate the public's planning and selection of a suitable testing centre and a time slot for testing. The testing centres will accord priority to serve individuals with advance bookings. As of 6pm today, there were around 28 000 booking places available for tomorrow at the CTCs, and around 91 per cent and around 95 per cent availability for booking places for the coming seven days and 14 days respectively. Members of the public may call the testing centres for enquiries on the availability of bookings or walk-in quotas before visiting the centres.
Coupled with 18 CTCs, there will be a total of 29 CTCs/mobile specimen collection stations in various districts tomorrow to provide free service for persons subject to compulsory testing. The testing capacity should be sufficient to meet the demand. The opening dates and operating hours of the mobile specimen collection stations in various districts providing free COVID-19 nucleic acid testing services for the general public are stated in the Annex. Persons subject to compulsory testing and those with the "LeaveHomeSafe" COVID-19 exposure notification or SMS notification from the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) reminding them to undergo testing as soon as possible may receive free testing at CTCs or mobile specimen collection stations (if the service scope is applicable).
People whose test results are negative will be informed by SMS message through their mobile phones. Persons subject to compulsory testing must keep the relevant records properly. If any specimen tested shows a preliminarily positive COVID-19 result, the specimen will be referred to the Public Health Laboratory Services Branch of the DH for a confirmatory test. Confirmed cases will be followed up and announced by the CHP.
The Government reminds the public that they can undergo COVID-19 testing through various means. For details, please refer to www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/early-testing.html. If a person has symptoms, he or she should seek medical attention immediately and should not attend the mobile specimen collection stations or CTCs.
The spokesman urges all individuals who are in doubt about their own health conditions, or individuals with infection risks (such as individuals who visited places with epidemic outbreaks or had contact with confirmed cases), to undergo testing promptly for early identification of infected persons.
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