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Thursday, August 06, 2020, 14:27
HK govt condemns antics aimed to disturb mainland support team
By Wang Zhan
Thursday, August 06, 2020, 14:27 By Wang Zhan

HONG KONG - The government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Wednesday condemned the antics of some opposition district council members and a few individuals directed at the mainland nucleic acid test support team.

The district council members and others held demonstrations outside the hotel where the mainland support team is staying and at the sites the team visited for inspection, causing disturbance to them over a few days.

In view of the seriousness of the epidemic, the community as a whole should get united in fighting against this virus. However, some people disregarded the public interest, health and safety, behaved in a confrontational way in an attempt to smear and damage the central government's support to Hong Kong's anti-epidemic work. We must strongly condemn such behaviors.

Spokesman for HKSAR government

A spokesman for the HKSAR government said in a press release that the HKSAR government was grateful to the central government for supporting its anti-epidemic efforts.

"In view of the seriousness of the epidemic, the community as a whole should get united in fighting against this virus. However, some people disregarded the public interest, health and safety, behaved in a confrontational way in an attempt to smear and damage the central government's support to Hong Kong's anti-epidemic work. We must strongly condemn such behaviors."

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The spokesman said the central government sent the team to Hong Kong at the SAR government's request. The site visits were arranged to help the mainland team get a clear idea of preparations needed for enhancing the capacity of community testing for COVID-19.

The spokesman dismissed "political considerations" while stressing that the arrangements for the support team had complied with the law.

In a separate press release, the HKSAR government explained the necessity of roping in private testing services, saying the public testing system would not have been able to cope as there was an urgent need to roll out large-scale testing as soon as possible to safeguard public health.

"All local laboratories, including the private laboratories providing COVID-19 tests for the government, must abide by the relevant local legislation, especially the statutory requirements for medical laboratories and the related professionals. In addition, all participating private laboratories must subscribe to and pass the External Quality Assessment Programme of the Department of Health (DH) to ensure they meet the required technical standards before commencing the testing service," reads the press release. 

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All imported staff are also required to conform to local legislation while despensing services, the HK government said. 

The seven advance members of the mainland nucleic acid testing support team who arrived in Hong Kong on Aug 2 had obtained negative result from a nucleic acid test done within 72 hours prior to arrival, the government said in the press release.


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