Covid-19: Hong Kong makes more test kits available as woman dies while waiting to enter quarantine

Hong Kong’s government announced plans to expand Covid-19 testing and gave details of grants to hard-hit businesses as the death was announced of a 62-year-old woman who was waiting to go into quarantine.

Test kits will be made available in ten more MTR stations from Saturday, as the government submits plans to the Legislative Council for one-off relief grants to businesses and individuals.

Covid-19 coronavirus virus mask MTR — Photo: GovHK.

Citizens can get the kits from Shau Kei Wan, Wan Chai, Sai Ying Pun, Ho Man Tin, Prince Edward, Kai Tak, Wu Kai Sha, Tsuen Wan West, Sheung Shui, and Tung Chung stations, in addition to existing stations which supply them.

Hong Kong reported 70 coronavirus infections on Friday including 64 locally transmitted cases. Of these, 25 have unknown sources.

The government announced its fourth round of payouts, this time totalling HK$6.4 billion, on Thursday. More details were given on Friday in a document submitted to the Legislative Council’s Financial Committee.

One-off relief funds would be given to sectors impacted by tightened social distancing rules, including catering services for schools, fitness centres and sport facilities, registered sports coaches and tutorial schools.

The Legislative Council will discuss and vote on the proposal on Monday.

Delayed response

The 62-year-old woman was diagnosed with Covid on Thursday after she was found dead at home. It was later revealed that she had been waiting for three days to be sent to a compulsory quarantine facility and had lost contact with her family.

The cause of her death is still under investigation.

Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch, said that recent outbreaks in multiple housing estate blocks had increased the workload of staff responsible for arranging compulsory quarantine.

She said the government would seek help from other departments to speed up the process.

In addition to the 62-year-old, two more patients died on Friday, bringing the total to 128.