Hong Kong keeps tracing COVID-19 through sewage surveillance

HONG KONG -- The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said Monday that it will distribute around 205,000 sets of COVID-19 rapid antigen test (RAT) kits as part of a follow-up on the recent detection of the COVID-19 virus in sewage samples.

The test kits will be distributed to residents, cleaning workers and property management staff working in the areas with positive sewage testing results showing relatively high viral loads, in order to help identify infected persons.

The HKSAR government also urged RAT kit users to report any positive results for COVID-19 via the government's online platform.

On Monday, Hong Kong registered 1,719 confirmed locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 and 154 imported cases, official data showed.