The Transport Department (TD) announced today (March 26) that starting from Monday (March 29), a new round of COVID-19 voluntary testing services will be arranged for taxi and public light bus (PLB) drivers and employees of local ferry operators.
      
     Testing is an integral part of the strategy in preventing and fighting the virus. The TD will continue the free voluntary testing services for taxi and PLB drivers for a new round covering a period of two weeks from March 29 to April 11. The locations, opening dates and hours of the five designated testing centres are detailed in the Annex. 
         
     Taxi and PLB drivers may make an appointment via the dedicated online booking system of the TD (covidtest.td.gov.hk) starting from tomorrow (March 27). When booking an appointment, drivers should provide their Hong Kong identity card number, select a time slot and designated testing centre, and fill in a contact number for receiving SMS notifications. Upon completion of registration, the system will display the booking confirmation and issue an SMS notification that confirms the date and time of the booking, the name of the testing centre and the booking number.
      
     Taxi and PLB drivers who have made an appointment should bring along the original Hong Kong identity card used for booking, a valid taxi driver identity plate or public light bus driver identity plate, and the booking confirmation SMS, and visit the selected testing centre during the appointment time slot. Duty officers of the testing agency will assist drivers with the registration, and collect the specimen of the combined nasal and throat swab test. The testing agency will deliver the specimens collected to the laboratory for testing. As no personal information will be indicated on the specimen bottles, the testing agency will only have records of the barcode number of the specimen bottles and will not collect personal information. Drivers who have a negative test result will receive an SMS notification, while cases with positive test results will be relayed to the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health for follow-up.
      
     Taxi drivers who have completed the testing will be given the Participation Tag for Taxi Drivers at the testing centre and may display the tag at a prominent position inside the taxi compartment for passengers to check.
      
     As for employees of local ferry operators, the ferry operators have already notified their employees to bring along their valid staff identity cards or letters issued by the ferry operators during specific time slots from March 29 to April 1 to undergo testing at specified locations.
      
     The TD strongly appeals to taxi and PLB drivers and employees of local ferry operators to participate in the testing with a view to achieving "early identification, early isolation and early treatment", and cutting the transmission chains in the community as far as possible.
      
     For details of the testing services, please visit the website of the TD (www.td.gov.hk).

Ends/Friday, March 26, 2021
Issued at HKT 15:38

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