Hong Kong keeps tracing COVID-19 through sewage surveillance

HONG KONG, June 18 (Xinhua) -- The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said Saturday that it will distribute around 210,000 sets of COVID-19 rapid antigen test (RAT) kits as part of a follow-up on the recent detection of the COVID-19 virus in sewage samples.

The test kits will be distributed to residents, cleaning workers and property management staff working in the areas with positive sewage testing results showing relatively high viral loads, in order to help identify infected persons.

The HKSAR government also urged RAT kit users to report any positive results for COVID-19 via the government's online platform.

In an effort to combat COVID-19, the HKSAR government's Environmental Protection Department and Drainage Services Department have strengthened the sampling of sewage in all districts of Hong Kong for COVID-19 virus testing.

On Saturday, Hong Kong registered 1,160 new confirmed locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 and 116 imported cases, official data showed.