A woman wearing PPE promotes COVID-19 testing kits in the Mong Kok area of Hong Kong on March 19, 2022. (PETER PARKS / AFP)
HONG KONG - The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government said Saturday that it will distribute about 125,000 sets of the COVID-19 rapid antigen test kits to people in some areas of the city as part of a follow-up on recent detection of the COVID-19 virus in sewage samples.
The HKSAR government urged RAT kit users to report any positive results for COVID-19 via the government's online platform
The test kits will be distributed to residents, cleaning workers, and property management staff working in the areas with positive sewage testing results showing relatively high viral loads, in order to help identify infected persons, it said.
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The HKSAR government also urged RAT kit users to report any positive results for COVID-19 via the government's online platform.
In efforts to combat COVID-19, the HKSAR government's Environmental Protection Department and the Drainage Services Department, in collaboration with a cross-disciplinary team of the University of Hong Kong, have strengthened the sampling of sewage in all districts of Hong Kong for COVID-19 virus testing.
On Saturday, Hong Kong registered 115 new COVID-19 cases by nucleic acid tests, and 163 additional cases through self-reported RATs, official data showed.
