The Department of Health (DH) today (April 2) announced that starting tomorrow (April 3), participants of the Enhanced Laboratory Surveillance Programme can make use of a door-to-door specimen collection service from member companies of the Cyberport Startup Alumni Association to submit their deep throat saliva specimens to the DH for COVID-19 testing.
Under the Enhanced Laboratory Surveillance Programme, the DH is currently providing a free COVID-19 testing service for asymptomatic inbound travellers arriving from overseas under the Compulsory Quarantine of Persons Arriving at Hong Kong from Foreign Places Regulation (Cap. 599E). Participants can either visit the DH's Temporary Specimen Collection Centre at the AsiaWorld-Expo for collecting and submitting their deep throat saliva specimens immediately upon their arrival, or ask family members or friends to help with the specimens' delivery to designated collection points if they choose to collect the specimens during home quarantine.
To offer an alternative to inbound travellers to enable their return of specimens to the DH, the Cyberport Startup Alumni Association has pulled together two of its member companies, namely GoGo Tech Limited ("GOGOVAN") and HK PICK-UP LIMITED ("Pickupp") (hereafter "service providers"), to provide a door-to-door specimen collection service starting from April 3. Upon receipt of a request from inbound travellers, one of the two service providers will collect their specimen bottles from their registered address across Hong Kong (except outlying islands and other remote areas, for details please refer to website provided below) and drop them off at either the 13 designated clinics under the DH or the Public Health Laboratory Centre of the DH. The service providers will directly contact the individual inbound traveller and charge the latter a fee of $100.
Members of the public are free to choose to use one of the concerned collection services. They will need to contact the service provider and make their own direct payment.
A Government spokesman said, "The health of Hong Kong people is the prime concern of the Government. We are grateful for the support and contributions by the Cyberport Startup Alumni Association and the two service providers in fighting COVID-19 together. The door-to-door collection service to be provided will fill an existing service gap and offer a convenient alternative for all inbound travellers who need to submit their specimens. This will in turn help ensure the early identification of confirmed cases for the better protection of public health."
For service subscriptions and enquiries related to the two companies, please refer to the information below:
| GOGOVAN | Pickupp | |
| Service Subscription | www.gogovan.com.hk/covid-19-testing-en/ | hk.pickupp.io/en/blog/COVID-19-sample |
| General Enquiry | 5681 4989 (hotline) | hk@pickupp.io |
For more information about the service, please refer to the following link of the Cyberport Startup Alumni Association: www.csaa.com.hk/blog/door-to-door-specimen-collection-service.
A spokesman for the DH urged inbound travellers who choose to collect their deep throat saliva specimens by themselves at home to arrange to hand in their specimens, either through their family or friends or the collection service, as early as possible so that relevant virus testing can be conducted as soon as possible. This will help identify asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic patients early for management and minimise the risk of community transmission.
The DH will provide specimen collection containers to these travellers at the Hong Kong International Airport for collection of their deep throat saliva samples for testing. The containers should be returned to any of the collection points in the same morning after the specimen was collected. The collection points are 13 designated chest clinics or dermatological clinics under the DH. The specimens can be received at those locations from 9am to 11am on Monday to Sunday as well as at some general out-patient clinics under the Hospital Authority from 8.30am to 9.30am on Monday to Friday (except public holidays).
Follow this news feed: East Asia