The Government yesterday (February 4) exercised the power under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Compulsory Testing for Certain Persons) Regulation (Cap. 599J) to make a "restriction-testing declaration" effective from 7pm yesterday, under which people (hereafter referred to as "persons subject to compulsory testing") within the specified "restricted area" in Sham Shui Po (i.e. The buildings of 107-131 Apliu Street (odd numbers), 11-17 Shek Kip Mei Street (odd numbers), 140-164 Yu Chau Street (even numbers), 112-126 Nam Cheong Street (even numbers), 195-223A Tai Nan Street (odd numbers), 1F Shek Kip Mei Street, 238-272 Lai Chi Kok Road (even numbers) and 66-72 Nam Cheong Street (even numbers), excluding the shops on the ground floor) were required to stay in their premises and undergo compulsory testing. Persons subject to compulsory testing were required to stay in their premises until all such persons identified in the "restricted area" had undergone testing and the test results were mostly ascertained.
 
     Moreover, the Government issued a compulsory testing notice yesterday, requiring persons who had been present at the above buildings, including the shops on the ground floor, for more than two hours from January 22 to February 4, 2022, even if they were not present in the "restricted area" at the time when the declaration took effect, to undergo compulsory testing on or before February 6, 2022. The Government announced the completion of the compulsory testing exercise at around 9.15am today (February 5) and carried out enforcement action in the "restricted area" afterwards to verify that all people in the "restricted area" had undergone compulsory testing in accordance with the requirements of the relevant declaration and compulsory testing notice. The Government announced that the enforcement operation ended at around 2.35pm today.
    
     In this exercise, the Environment Bureau, the Environmental Protection Department, the Home Affairs Department (including the Sham Shui Po District Office), the Hong Kong Police Force, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and the Auxiliary Medical Service mobilised around 330 staff to arrange for implementation of the declaration and enforcement actions for breaches of the compulsory testing notice issued earlier.
 
     The Government thanks persons subject to compulsory testing for their support and understanding. With everyone's co-operation and efforts, coupled with the tireless efforts of the testing contractors, residents have been informed about their testing results by SMS notification. After finishing the compulsory testing exercise at around 9.15am today, the Government took enforcement action in the "restricted area" immediately to verify that all people in the "restricted area" had undergone testing according to the requirements of the declaration and the compulsory testing notice. Persons who could present an SMS notification containing a negative testing result or wore a wristband as proof of having undergone the compulsory testing could leave the "restricted area" through the designated exit after providing personal information to a prescribed officer. The enforcement operation was completed at around 2.35pm. Test records of around 740 persons subject to compulsory testing were checked. Eighty-five persons were found not having undergone compulsory testing and compulsory testing order was issued to them. Taking into account the above situation, the Secretary for Food and Health revoked the "restriction-testing declaration" in accordance with Cap. 599J (see attachment).
 
     The Government reminds the 346 households who have not answered the door to contact the Government for arrangement of testing as soon as possible after reading the notices put up by the Government, in the hope of eliminating the possible risk of further spread of the virus in the community.
 
     The Government thanks all participating government staff and the testing agencies for their hard work. The Government is also grateful to those subject to compulsory testing for their support and understanding, and their full co-operation during this period in undergoing testing and waiting for the results at home.
 
     The Government will seriously follow up on the compliance situation of the compulsory testing notices and the "restriction-testing declaration" by persons subject to compulsory testing. Any person who fails to comply with the compulsory testing notices commits an offence and may be liable to a fixed penalty of $5,000. The person will also be issued with a compulsory testing order, requiring him or her to undergo testing within a specified time frame. Failure to comply with the order or the "restriction-testing declaration" is an offence and the offender may be liable to a fine of level 4 ($25,000) and imprisonment for six months.

  

     The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) today (February 5) said that a field assistant, who works in Tai Lung Experimental Station in Sheung Shui, and an arborist trainee, who works at the Tung Chung Au Country Park Management Centre on Lantau Island, tested positive for COVID-19.

     The field assistant mainly collects vegetable samples from farms in North District and Yuen Long for testing. He last went to work on January 31. The arborist trainee mainly performs tree management work and has no contact with the public in daily work. She last went to work on January 28. Both of the staff members wore surgical masks and observed relevant infection control measures when performing duties. They have no recent travel history.

     The AFCD spokesman said that the department has arranged thorough cleaning and disinfection at working areas and the public utilities according to the guidelines of the Centre for Health Protection (CHP).

     The AFCD is highly concerned about the COVID-19 epidemic and will continue to maintain close liaison with the CHP. Staff are reminded to pay attention to personal hygiene and to stay vigilant. They should seek medical advice immediately if feeling unwell.

     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Patrick Nip, at a media session after attending a radio programme this morning (February 5):
 
Reporter: Mr Nip, looking at future tightening of social distancing measures, what directions are we looking at? And my second question is regarding distributing rapid test kits to everyone in the city. Expert had kind of question on its effectiveness, he said it is not very effective in cutting transmission chains, when it is only for one time and on top of it, it is voluntary. So, what is your response to that?
 
Secretary for the Civil Service: As regards the first question on social distancing measures, in view of the very serious epidemic situation now in Hong Kong, it's very important for our social distancing measures to achieve one single objective – to drastically reduce the people's flow in the community and reduce social contact so that we can cut all the transmission links. So it is very important. When we decide on what sort of social distancing measures that are required, basically we would look at the outcome and the effect of such measures, whether it would effectively reduce the flow of people in the community so as to achieve our objective of cutting all these transmission links.
 
     As regards the rapid antigen test, it's clear that the rapid antigen test has the advantages of easy to administer, rapidly getting the results. But, of course, its sensitivity is no way comparable with the PCR test (polymerase chain reaction-based nucleic acid test). For the rapid antigen test that we are using, basically it could detect any CT value of, or below, 28, so it is reasonably sensitive, so to speak. We are not just deploying the rapid antigen test, we have several tiers of testing regime, including the compulsory testing notice and the restriction-testing declarations which are using the PCR test. But because of the very serious epidemic situation and the convenience these rapid antigen tests that can provide, I think it is a very good supplement to enable our citizens, our public to have access to these rapid antigen tests, so that they can know the quick results of whether they got infected or not. You could administer it daily or one time for several days. So I think we should look at it in totality, it is a sort of a supplement.
 
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

     The Government yesterday (February 4) exercised the power under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Compulsory Testing for Certain Persons) Regulation (Cap. 599J) to make a "restriction-testing declaration" effective from 6pm yesterday, under which people (hereafter referred to as "persons subject to compulsory testing") within the specified "restricted area" in Kai Tak (i.e. Blocks 1-3 and 5-9, K. City, 7 Muk Ning Street, Kai Tak New Area) were required to stay in their premises and undergo compulsory testing. Persons subject to compulsory testing were required to stay in their premises until all such persons identified in the "restricted area" had undergone testing and the test results were mostly ascertained. 

     Moreover, the Government issued a compulsory testing notice yesterday, requiring persons who had been present at the above buildings, for more than two hours from January 22 to February 4, 2022, even if they were not present in the "restricted area" at the time when the declaration took effect, to undergo compulsory testing on or before February 6, 2022. The Government announced the completion of the compulsory testing exercise at 10am today (February 5) and carried out enforcement action in the "restricted area" afterwards to verify that all people in the "restricted area" had undergone compulsory testing in accordance with the requirements of the relevant declaration and compulsory testing notice. The Government announced that the enforcement operation ended at around 1pm today.
     
     In this exercise, the Environment Bureau, the Environmental Protection Department, the Home Affairs Department (including the Kowloon City District Office), the Hong Kong Police Force, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and the Tobacco and Alcohol Control Office of the Department of Health mobilised around 180 staff to arrange for implementation of the declaration and enforcement actions for breaches of the compulsory testing notice issued earlier.
 
     The Government thanks persons subject to compulsory testing for their support and understanding. With everyone's co-operation and efforts, coupled with the tireless efforts of the testing contractors, residents have been informed about their testing results by SMS notification. After finishing the compulsory testing exercise at 10am today, the Government took enforcement action in the "restricted area" immediately to verify that all people in the "restricted area" had undergone testing according to the requirements of the declaration and the compulsory testing notice. Persons who could present an SMS notification containing a negative testing result or wore a wristband as proof of having undergone the compulsory testing could leave the "restricted area" through the designated exit after providing personal information to a prescribed officer. The enforcement operation was completed at around 1pm. Test records of around 300 persons subject to compulsory testing were checked. Around 50 persons were found not having undergone compulsory testing and compulsory testing orders were issued to them. Taking into account the above situation, the Secretary for Food and Health revoked the "restriction-testing declaration" in accordance with Cap. 599J (see attachment).
 
     The Government reminds the about 150 households who have not answered the door to contact the Government for arrangement of testing as soon as possible after reading the notices put up by the Government, in the hope of eliminating the possible risk of further spread of the virus in the community.
 
     The Government thanks all participating government staff and the testing agencies for their hard work. The Government is also grateful to those subject to compulsory testing for their support and understanding, and their full co-operation during this period in undergoing testing and waiting for the results at home.
 
     The Government will seriously follow up on the compliance situation of the compulsory testing notices and the "restriction-testing declaration" by persons subject to compulsory testing. Any person who fails to comply with the compulsory testing notices commits an offence and may be liable to a fixed penalty of $5,000. The person will also be issued with a compulsory testing order, requiring him or her to undergo testing within a specified time frame. Failure to comply with the order or the "restriction-testing declaration" is an offence and the offender may be liable to a fine of level 4 ($25,000) and imprisonment for six months.

  

     â€‹The Government exercised the power under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Compulsory Testing for Certain Persons) Regulation (Cap. 599J) to make a "restriction-testing declaration" on February 3 with effect from 7.30pm, under which people (hereafter referred to as "persons subject to compulsory testing") within the specified "restricted area" in Tuen Mun (i.e. Hing Ping House, Tai Hing Estate, 4 Tai Fong Street, Tuen Mun) were required to stay in their premises and undergo compulsory testing. The Government yesterday (February 4) extended the period of operation to today (February 5). Persons subject to compulsory testing are required to stay in their premises until all such persons identified in the "restricted area" have undergone testing and the test results are mostly ascertained and they had to undergo two tests under the designated arrangement. 

     In addition, for those who have visited Hing Ping House in the past two weeks for more than two hours should undergo testing on February 4, February 5, February 6, February 7 and February 10 in accordance with the compulsory testing notice issued earlier. The Government will make a public announcement when the declaration expires officially. The Government finished the compulsory testing exercise at around 9am today (February 5) and is now carrying out enforcement actions in the "restricted area" to verify that all people in the "restricted area" have undergone compulsory testing. The Government will further announce the revocation time of the declaration.

     Starting from around 9am today, persons in the "restricted area" in Tuen Mun who have undergone testing and are able to present SMS notifications with negative test results as proof of having undergone testing may leave the "restricted area" through the designated exit after providing personal information to a prescribed officer.

     The Government had set up temporary specimen collection stations in the "restricted area" and requested persons subject to compulsory testing to collect combined nasal and throat swab samples at the stations to undergo a COVID-19 virus test on February 3 and February 4 under the designated arrangement. As at 1am today, 5 388 person-time had undergone testing. Thirteen preliminary positive cases and two indeterminate cases were found and the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health will take follow up action.

     Moreover, the Government also assigned staff to visit around 1 330 households, among which 132 households did not answer the door. The Government will take measures to follow up.

     The Government reiterates that enforcement actions will be taken seriously. Any person who fails to present an SMS notification with a test result as proof of having undergone testing breaches the compulsory testing notice and may be liable to a fine of $5,000. The person will also be issued with a compulsory testing order, requiring him/her to undergo testing within a specified time frame. Failure to comply with the compulsory testing order or the "restriction-testing declaration" is an offence and the offender may be liable to a fine of level 4 ($25,000) and imprisonment for six months.