In view of the latest developments of the epidemic and the referrals by the Department of Health (DH), the Home Affairs Department (HAD), subsequent to the extension of the scope of the COVID-19 Community Testing Scheme on August 7, will provide a one-off voluntary free virus testing service to residents of individual buildings and housing estates.
      
     The buildings and housing estates involved are located in various districts and include Chung Yuen House of Chuk Yuen North Estate in Wong Tai Sin District; Tai Kung Building of Cosmopolitan Estates in Tai Kok Tsui, Yau Tsim Mong District; Mei Fung House of Mei Lam Estate and Hin Hing House of Hin Keng Estate in Sha Tin District; Nam Hang Tsuen and Chak Sing House of Tin Chak Estate in Yuen Long District; Choi Fu House of Choi Ming Court and Block 6 of Fu Ning Garden in Tseung Kwan O, Sai Kung District; Sau Shan House of Cheung Shan Estate in Tsuen Wan District; Tak Sui House of Tak Long Estate in Kowloon City District; and Cheung Hong Estate and Ching Chung House of Cheung Ching Estate in Kwai Tsing District.
      
     A spokesman for the HAD said, "These buildings and housing estates, each of which has confirmed cases in a few households, are regarded as higher-risk residential buildings and were referred to the HAD by the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the DH. In order to accord priority to residents of buildings with more confirmed cases and conduct testing for them as soon as possible, the testing scheme of this round will mainly cover individual buildings, so as to concentrate our efforts on helping the CHP to identify the invisible transmission chain at an early stage."
      
     The testing scheme will cover a total of 22 buildings and some village houses, involving about 44 000 residents. The HAD will distribute throat-swab sampling kits and registration forms to residents of Chung Yuen House at Chuk Yuen North Estate and Tai Kung Building at Cosmopolitan Estates together with the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (TWGHs) and Mong Kok Kai Fong Association Limited Chan Hing Social Service Centre respectively tomorrow (August 12), and will successively extend the service to other buildings and estates. The management offices of relevant estates or buildings will duly inform the residents of the testing scheme schedule. As in the previous round of the testing scheme, registration forms from the residents will be handled by the partner charities and social service organisations, while specimen bottles will be passed to the testing agency, Sunrise Diagnostic Centre Limited, for testing.
      
     Apart from the TWGHs and Mong Kok Kai Fong Association Limited Chan Hing Social Service Centre, other charities partnering with District Offices include the Board of Directors of Yan Chai Hospital, Lok Sin Tong, Haven of Hope Christian Service and Pok Oi Hospital. The HAD expresses deep gratitude to the charities for their co-operation in launching the testing scheme in a short period of time and their selfless participation in anti-epidemic work.

Ends/Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Issued at HKT 15:00

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