People check-in at a COVID-19 testing centre in Hong Kong on Feb 25, 2022. (PETER PARKS / AFP)

HONG KONG – Hong Kong reported 17,063 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, another record high since the pandemic began more than two years ago, as the government announced a shift in its testing strategy to cope with the surge of infections.

Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee said Hong Kong is in a dire situation as the fifth wave of the pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges to the city's healthcare system.

In a briefing, Chan said the latest wave has not peaked yet. She again called on members of the public to stay home to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spread.

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"I appeal to you to stay home as much as possible. If you need to go out to buy necessities, go out one person at a time instead of multiple people and shorten your time," she said. "Please also cut down the frequency of going out."

Chan announced updates on the government's testing strategy in order to expedite the overall testing process to confirm positive cases.

The government planned to allow people undergoing rapid antigen tests to register their positive results through an online system so that they may be followed up as positive cases without seeking confirmation in nucleic acid tests, health chief Sophia Chan said

The government planned to allow people undergoing rapid antigen tests to register their positive results through an online system so that they may be followed up as positive cases without seeking confirmation in nucleic acid tests, Chan said.

In the past, RAT-positive people needed to submit samples, such as deep throat saliva ones, again, for the purpose of conducting nucleic acid tests to confirm the results.

The new arrangement aims to avoid resource duplication and time delay, Chan said.

The government has also decided to revise the compulsory testing strategy under the risk-based principle.

It will continue to conduct restriction-testing declaration operations targeting higher-risk buildings, with plans to cover more buildings. But the compulsory testing requirements upon completion of such operations will be replaced with a RAT conducted by the residents, Chan said.

For places with higher infection risks, such as buildings and catering premises recording multiple cases, the government will distribute rapid test kits to staff, residents and other people concerned instead of issuing a compulsory testing notice as in past practice.

This means the people concerned no longer need to conduct tests at community testing centers or mobile specimen collection stations, and may conduct a RAT on their own, Chan said.

“The CTNs which had already been issued will also be cancelled,” she added.

The government will continue to distribute rapid test kits to residents, cleansing workers and property management staff in relevant districts where positive results are detected in sewage surveillance.

As for practitioners in high-risk and high-exposure groups, the compulsory testing frequency will be reduced from once in every two or three days to once in every seven days. The government will also distribute rapid test kits to such practitioners through the trades, so that they may perform more frequent tests in a testing cycle.

Chan also said preliminarily positive cases detected by testing contractors will now be followed up forthwith, and positive cases detected in nucleic acid tests by testing contractors will be directly deemed as confirmed cases in future

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Saturday's new cases comprised six imported infections and local ones. There were 66 new deaths over the past 24 hours and 22 more deaths that were not reported earlier.

The patients aged between 19 and 101. Most of them, including the 19-year-old woman, have chronic illnesses and were residing in care homes. Among the 66 who died over the past 24 hours, only eight were vaccinated with one or two doses of the vaccine, health officials said in the same briefing.

There were now 470 residential care homes that had cases. Around 70 of them had 10 or more infections, officials said.