The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, visited community testing centres at Southorn Stadium in Wan Chai, Java Road Sports Centre in North Point and Wong Chuk Hang Sports Centre today (September 7) to inspect the operation of the centres and give encouragement to the healthcare personnel and staff members there.

     Mr Cheung first called at the community testing centre at Southorn Stadium for a better understanding of how members of the public receive tests there, noting that the healthcare personnel of that centre came from St Paul's Hospital.
 
     After being briefed on its operation since the commencement of the Universal Community Testing Programme on September 1, he chatted with the healthcare personnel and staff members.

     He expressed his sincere gratitude to St Paul's Hospital for its participation in the Programme and its support to the Government in the anti-epidemic fight. He said that he was pleased to note that the Hospital has formed a healthcare team of over 50 members to help with specimen collections for members of the public at the centre.
 
     Mr Cheung then visited the community testing centre at Java Road Sports Centre, which is run by a 64-strong team from the School of Nursing of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He received a briefing from the School representative on the centre's operation over these few days as well as the arrangements made in various areas, such as the centre's design and testing workflow, to ensure that the entire testing process was safe, quick and convenient.

     He thanked the School for fighting the epidemic at the forefront, fully acknowledging their contributions to public health.

     Afterwards, Mr Cheung went to the community testing centre at Wong Chuk Hang Sports Centre and met with the 21-member team from Gleneagles Hospital Hong Kong, which managed the Centre.
 
     He said he was glad to know that they have until today provided tests to a substantial number of members of the public, though the service period of the Centre is only for seven days from September 1. He conveyed his heartfelt gratitude to the Hospital for their professionalism and their continual support to the Government in combating the virus.
 
     "Over the past week, I have paid visits to various community testing centres. I am most grateful for the full support of different sectors, including serving and retired civil servant colleagues as well as the healthcare personnel. Their efforts have contributed to the smooth operation of the Programme since its commencement," he said.

     Pointing out that the Progamme has been extended to this Friday (September 11), he appealed to members of the public to sign up to make appointments for testing immediately and help identify asymptomatic carriers in the community so that virus transmission chains can be cut and Hong Kong can come out of the epidemic early.

     Details of the Programme are available on the dedicated website www.communitytest.gov.hk.

Ends/Monday, September 7, 2020
Issued at HKT 19:27

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