Health authorities have said that according to the pandemic prediction model developed by the team of Chinese experts led by Zhong Nanshan, there will be a trend of continued growth in cases in the upcoming days.
On this basis, authorities decided to impose a new round of mass testing as well as to distribute more Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) kits to the population, so there is continuing feedback on potential new cases.
According to the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center, as part of the mass testing today and tomorrow, people will receive, free of charge, another five kits of RAT as well as a 10-pack of KN95 facemask, which authorities consider safer for the prevention of infections between people.
“On mass testing, we are going to distribute five kits of RAT for the upcoming days. We are also going to distribute KN95 facemask to the population as these masks are of better quality with 83% of effectiveness for prevention of infections, in contrast to the surgical masks that have an effectiveness of around 60-something percent,” Ao Ieong said, adding that there will be no masks distributed to children as “children should be kept at home as much as possible and avoid any kind of outdoor activities.”
The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture also urged everyone to stay home as much as possible and not to leave home unless there is extreme necessity to do so, such as buying food supplies.
Called to comment on the need for the large majority of the population to continue to work given that private companies – contrary to the public sector – have continued normal business activities, the director of the Health Bureau (SSM), Alvis Lo, said that he hopes all companies from different sectors that can either stop or, in the alternative, assign work that staff members can do remotely from home.
Questioned on the real effectiveness and necessity of so many tests (RAT and NAT) and on the possibility of more mass testing to come, he said, “when the cases are growing it is good to do mass testing to spot infections at the early stages. And when the number of positive cases starts to decline, it is also a good time for mass testing to ensure that there isn’t a relapse or new clusters due to some concealed cases in the community.”
