Self-test kit can help stem Covid wave, Nip says

Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip on Saturday defended the government’s plan to distribute rapid Covid test kits to everyone in Hong Kong, as doubts were cast on the scheme’s effectiveness.

On Friday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam revealed that the government had purchased rapid-testing kits for people to use at home, as the SAR experiences a worsening outbreak.

But respiratory medicine expert Leung Chi-chiu said there were limitations to the sensitivity of these test kits, adding that a one-off test is not particularly useful in cutting transmission chains. The scheme is also voluntary.

Speaking after an RTHK radio programme on Saturday, Nip said the test kit plan is a good supplement to other testing measures.

“It could detect any CT value on or below 28, so it’s reasonably sensitive,” he said, referring to a measure of a person’s viral load. A lower CT value indicates a higher viral load.

“We are not just deploying the rapid antigen tests. We have several tiers of testing regime, including the compulsory testing notice, the restriction testing declarations, which are using the PCR tests,”

“But because of the very serious epidemic situation and the convenience these rapid antigen tests could provide, I think it’s a very good supplement to enable our public to have access to these rapid antigen tests, so that they can know the quick results…So I think we should look at it in totality,” the minister said.

An expert adviser to the government, Professor Ivan Hung from the University of Hong Kong, also backed the test kit plan and urged the public to actively participate.

He said despite the test’s sensitivity issue, the scheme can still help to trace infections – especially asymptomatic ones – if citizens do the tests within three days of receiving the kits and report the results to the authorities.