Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor holds a press conference at the Central Government Offices on Aug 21, 2020. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)

HONG KONG – Hong Kong’s citywide free coronavirus testing will begin on Sept 1, as the government races to find asymptomatic patients to tame the latest outbreak.

Local residents who want to be tested for the coronavirus can register online and then visit temporary testing centers, to be set up in the city’s 18 districts, to have their nasal and throat swab specimens collected by medical professionals.

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Lam appealed to residents to register for the testing program which is expected to be completed within two weeks

Unveiling the starting date on Friday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said the citywide testing program would have been impossible without the central government’s help that significantly boosts the city’s testing capacity.

The central government has set up a 60-strong nucleic acid test team to help improve the city’s testing capacity at the request of the special administrative region government. The first batch of mainland doctors and nurses arrived in Hong Kong to join the city’s anti-epidemic fight at the beginning of August.

Lam appealed to residents to register for the testing program which is expected to be completed within two weeks.

The announcement came shortly before Hong Kong recorded 27 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, including 18 locally transmitted cases. The city’s infection tally stood at 4,631.

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Lam said the numbers in the following week will be a key indicator whether the current local outbreak is on the decline, and whether social distancing rules can be gradually lifted.