HONG KONG – Hong Kong's health authorities rolled out an online reporting platform today for people who test positive for COVID-19 in self-administered rapid antigen tests, as the daily number of deaths reported hit a new high.
The number of novel coronavirus cases confirmed by health authorities dropped further to 25,150 – but this figure does not include those who tested positive via a rapid test.
The number of COVID-19-related deaths reported continued to rise, to 280 – with 161 of these occurring over the past day.
The Hospital Authority (HA) said two children with COVID-19 died this morning.
They were an eight-year-old girl with thyroid problems and a four-year-old girl with heart problems.
Both of them received one dose of coronavirus vaccine last month.
On the online reporting system, the Centre for Health Protection said people declaring a positive test result will be required to provide their personal information, as well as details of family members.
The centre's controller, Edwin Tsui Lok-kin, said those using the system will be asked to report any symptoms and to state whether their living environment is crowded and they need to go to an isolation facility.
He said authorities will issue isolation orders for those infected and quarantine orders for their relatives – to be carried out either at a facility or at home.
Tsui added that medical staff will visit some people to collect specimens for PCR tests.
He said the reporting platform will allow the authorities to get more comprehensive and updated information about the latest pandemic situation and enable them to offer support to people with COVID-19.
He said he expects many people to report their positive test results.
“We expect there will be a surge of reports from today because after we announced the initiative of recognising the RAT [rapid antigen test] as a laboratory testing result on February 26, we noted that many people are now waiting for this platform,” he said.
Officials called on people who test positive to report the infections as quickly as possible. Those who found out they were infected between February 26 and March 5 will be able to declare their infections until March 14.
Macau's COVID-19 tally stands at 82. While 79 have been cured, three still under treatment, according to data released by the Health Bureau (SSM) today. – RTHK, MPD
