Coronavirus Hong Kong: number of infections uncovered via rapid tests jumps 30 per cent on first day of mass screening exercise
- Nearly 70 per cent of cases logged using online system are asymptomatic, compared with 40 per cent previously, health official says
- Chief executive assures city that overall infection numbers continue to decline and social-distancing curbs are set to be eased
Health authorities confirmed 2,535 infections on Saturday, of which 1,638 were logged via rapid antigen tests (RAT) on Friday, nearly 30 per cent more than the 1,265 recorded on the preceding day. The remaining 897 infections were discovered through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.
Nearly 70 per cent of the cases logged through the RAT system were asymptomatic, compared with 40 per cent previously, which showed that residents were heeding the call to test themselves, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection said.
“[We] cannot foresee the exact trend of the PCR and RAT cases. Hopefully it will continue to be a decreasing trend,” she said. “There has been an increase in the number of positive RAT results reported online, but it’s not a huge jump.”
Chuang noted that cases discovered using RAT and PCR tests should both be decreasing, given previous trends, but infections uncovered using the former exceeded those found through the latter on Friday.
“This reflects the participation of the public in using rapid tests,” she added.
