A student at St. Hilary's Primary School shows his COVID-19 rapid test result to a teacher before entering the school, in Hong Kong on April 19, 2022. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)
HONG KONG – The requirement for students to conduct daily COVID-19 rapid antigen tests before going to school will remain in effect for now as it is a “very reassuring measure” for both the schools and parents against infection, said Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Tuesday.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam said Lam said 50 students and 17 school staff members were found to have contracted the virus as reported by schools under the daily testing exercise from April 19 to 29
Speaking to the media ahead of the Executive Council meeting, Lam said 50 students and 17 school staff members were found to have contracted the virus as reported by schools under the daily testing exercise from April 19 to 29.
She stressed that now is not the time to lift the testing requirement.
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“This was not intended to be a permanent one, but it is not time yet to review the relevance of this measure because it is still proven to be very reassuring for their schools and also for their parents”, Lam said.
The chief executive added that since April 19, the government had only allowed primary schools to resume their face-to-face learning because secondary school premises were used for the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination.
“From today onwards, this will be the first time that secondary students are also going back to school for their face-to-face learning, so likewise they will have to do their daily rapid antigen test before entering the school premises”, Lam said.
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She added that the government will revisit the measure in due course.