April 1, 2022
HONG KONG – The Hong Kong government has packaged nearly half of the anti-pandemic kits that will be distributed to the public starting Saturday.
“Yesterday (Wednesday), the authority finished packaging 1.6 million anti-pandemic kits within one day. We are confident that the authority can complete packaging of all 3.5 million kits by Saturday,” Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said at her Thursday news conference.
As the rapid antigen test agent is included in the anti-pandemic kit, we are mulling whether this relative accurate and convenient tool can be utilized to help the government gauge the city’s current COVID-19 infection-case situation in a short period of time.
Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Each anti-pandemic kit comprises 20 KN95 masks, 20 rapid antigen test agents, two traditional Chinese medicine capsules, anti-pandemic information kits, and greeting cards. Plans call for all anti-pandemic kits to be distributed to the city’s 3 million households within seven days.
“As the rapid antigen test agent is included in the anti-pandemic kit, we are mulling whether this relative accurate and convenient tool can be utilized to help the government gauge the city’s current COVID-19 infection-case situation in a short period of time,” Lam said, adding that the government will announce further details later.
“Although the current COVID-19 infection case is easing, the pace of easing is not fast, so the government needs to closely monitor the pandemic situation,” Lam said.
She added that the current daily infection number is still hovering around 7,000, which is still high, and therefore now is not the best time for the government to conduct mandatory citywide COVID-19 testing.
Asked whether Hong Kong offers the pilot case model of “living with the virus” for the country, Lam replied: “The Chinese mainland and Hong Kong have differences in institutions and capacity. For Hong Kong, the main objective of the future anti-pandemic policy direction is to contain the pandemic and return to normalcy. The country also has a strong capability so that it can find the best anti-pandemic strategy. I do not understand what the ‘pilot case model’ means.”
Lam said the central government has accepted a request to send the mainland expert group on TCM to provide medical care for COVID-19 elderly patients with mild or no symptoms at the Kai Tak Holding Centre, with around 1,200 beds in total.
“It is a good opportunity for doctors and TCM practitioners to practice clinical application by integrating diagnosis of doctors and TCM practitioners, and it also can offer working practice for the future TCM hospital located in Tseung Kwan O,” Lam said.
Two oral medications for curing COVID-19 will be offered to patients with a prescription for the drug at the holding center.