HK food dept sets voluntary virus tests for bar, pub staff

HONG KONG - The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) on Wednesday announced it will contact bar and pub operators to arrange free and voluntary COVID-19 testing for their staff as Hong Kong reported three confirmed coronavirus cases.

The FEHD last week met with industry representatives, who pledged to cooperate with the department and the testing agency Prenetics on the virus testing services for bar and pub staff.

The testing agency will deliver and collect specimen bottles to operators of bars and pubs for deep throat saliva samples. It will visit bars and pubs for two consecutive weeks starting Nov 6 to carry out the work.

The testing agency will also arrange mobile vans to be parked in the bar areas from Friday to Sunday nights for two consecutive weeks to distribute specimen bottles to bar and pub patrons.

Meanwhile, the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said the new confirmed COVID-19 cases included two local infections and one imported case. The city's tally of confirmed cases stood at 5,348.

The CHP said the two local infections involved a 26-year-old man who attended the staycation in Mui Wo from Oct 25 to 27 and a 54-year-old woman who is a relative of a previous patient in the cluster. The group now has seven confirmed patients.

The CHP added that the lone imported COVID-19 case involved 28-year-old woman from India.