The Chinese central government announced on July 31 that they would send a team of health professionals from the Chinese mainland to Hong Kong to help with nucleic acid tests for Covid-19, which had seen an increase in the city, with new daily cases of over 100 reported.
The decision came at the request from the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) where a new wave of the coronavirus had been spreading for nearly one month.
Fan Hung-ling, president of Hong Kong Hospital Authority, told China Central Television that it is good news and is a big help that the central government was sending personnel to help with Hong Kong’s pandemic control and that he hopes the mainland personnel will also help Hong Kong build more makeshift hospitals.
An advance team from the mainland had already arrived in Hong Kong before HKSAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced on August 7 that the city will provide free nucleic acid tests to all residents willing to take the tests. Local newspaper Ta Kung Pao said that mainland personnel also brought with them equipment and reagents needed for the tests.
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