Carrie Lam Says Mass Testing of Hong Kong ‘Not Feasible’

What’s new: Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said that it’s not feasible to conduct mandatory mass testing of the entire city amid its fourth wave of the novel coronavirus.

The chief executive explained during a press conference on Monday that it’s difficult to test the entire population of 7 million in such a short period of time. Testing difficulties would also be exacerbated as residents would not be allowed to return to their communities in order to avoid cross infection and inbound travelers would also be banned from entering the city.

She said it would also be difficult to provide daily necessities to those who would be isolated during the mass testing.

The background: The prominent epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan suggested last Friday that the key task for Hong Kong now is to distinguish the healthy from the infected people, and the mass testing of all citizens is therefore necessary.

As of Sunday, the daily number of newly confirmed infection cases in Hong Kong had surpassed 100, recording the highest daily rise of infections. The number of new daily infections is predicted to grow according to experts.

More asymptomatic patients, in particular cases associated with a cluster from a dance club, have been detected in the fourth wave and have spread to multiple locations, hampering the Center for Health Protection’s tracing work.

Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related stories for fast news you can use.

Contact editor Marcus Ryder (marcusryder@caixin.com)