
Hong Kong’s government said Tuesday said it had detected 38 fresh cases after examining 1.78 million people during a two-week city-wide mass coronavirus testing drive.
Health officials carried out the testing between September 1 and September 14.
During the community testing program, 42 people tested positive, but five people had tested positive before the drive started and were known to authorities, Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan said Tuesday.
“Although the Universal Community Testing Program has come to an end, the Government will continue to extend and conduct repeated testing for target groups or vulnerable groups, and would not relax its anti-epidemic efforts,” Chan said.
Hong Kong spent $68 million on the mass testing program, according to Secretary for Civil Service Patrick Nip, of which $47 million was spent on medical and testing support staff.
The city offered free tests to the entire population of more than 7 million people in the program.
The territory reported zero cases of local transmission with four imported cases on Tuesday.
Hong Kong currently has 4,976 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 101 deaths, according to the Center for Health Protection.