Testing centres in Hong Kong are running at full steam as businesses gear up for reopening and workers rush to get themselves tested for Covid-19 ahead of restrictions easing from tomorrow.
Appointment slots are all booked till tomorrow, prompting calls for the government to set up more mobile testing centres.
The Catering Trade Workers Union yesterday welcomed the easing of measures but urged the authorities to set up more testing centres and deploy more mobile testing vehicles to lower the risk of workers congregating as they wait to be tested.
Mr Simon Wong, president of the Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, was quoted by the local media as saying that more than 20,000 workers from the catering sector were heading to testing centres daily. He estimated that a quarter of a million people are employed in the sector.
Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan last Wednesday announced that businesses such as beauty and massage parlours, gyms, theme parks, museums, performance arts venues, cinemas and other leisure venues would be allowed to reopen from tomorrow.
Dine-in services would be extended for four hours to 10pm and the number of patrons allowed at each table doubled to four. But the easing would be contingent on all staff getting tested every 14 days and patrons using the LeaveHomeSafe tracing app or having their personal information recorded.
Although the easing of measures has offered struggling businesses hope, not all are enthusiastic.
Beauty parlour owner Candy Wong, who was forced to close her business, had resisted getting tested as she feared the risk of getting infected could be high at a community testing centre.
"Now we'll have to go for the tests because the government has made it mandatory before we can open," she said.
Some, like the Black Sheep Restaurants, had been sending their staff for random tests since November, with about 20 workers being tested every three to four days. "As we have continued to have team members tested at these regular intervals, we feel positive, and we look towards reopening for dinner," said operations director Jonathan Leung.
Professor Chan said at a briefing yesterday that there is now room for a gradual loosening of restrictions as daily numbers fall to single digits, but places such as bars, bathhouses, mahjong clubs, nightclubs, party rooms and swimming pools will have to remain closed.
Hong Kongers are expected to start getting Pfizer-BioNTech shots from the beginning of next month. And the vaccine advisory committee yesterday said it would recommend the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine for emergency use.
