HKSAR chief executive says 3-day rapid antigen test exercise meets expectations

HONG KONG, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam on Wednesday said the three-day mass rapid antigen test (RAT) exercise had achieved its intended goals of better understanding the overall COVID-19 situation in Hong Kong.

The mass RAT exercise, which operated voluntarily on April 8-10, also helped identify cases in the community and familiarize residents with the use of the rapid test kits, Lam told a regular press conference on pandemic control.

The number of confirmed cases identified by the RAT exercise is not very large, and both the recent number of confirmed cases and other indicators for monitoring the pandemic have dropped roughly by 80 percent to 90 percent since March 21, Lam said.

Given the figures, the fifth wave of infections in Hong Kong has eased by 90 percent, she noted.

Despite the decline in the number of infections, the HKSAR government hopes to leverage the RAT operation to identify more infected people and arrange for appropriate isolation and treatment, Lam added.

On Wednesday, Hong Kong registered 734 new COVID-19 cases by nucleic acid tests, and 538 additional positive cases through self-reported rapid antigen tests, official data showed.