Hong Kong students to take ARTs as classes resume this month
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Suspensions may still be triggered if the number of infections at a campus reaches a certain threshold.
PHOTO: AFP
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HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) - Hong Kong will require all school students to take regular antigen rapid tests after in-person classes resume later this month, as the city gradually relaxes some of the world's toughest Covid-19 control measures.
Officials are still ironing out details such as how frequent the tests should be conducted and how many positive cases would warrant a school suspension, Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung said on Radio Television Hong Kong on Saturday (April 9).
The class-resumption plan will be finalised next week, Mr Yeung said.
Classes may no longer need to be suspended if isolated positive cases are reported because regular tests will allow health authorities to get a better picture of overall infections at schools, Mr Yeung said on the radio programme.
Suspensions may still be triggered if the number of infections at a campus reaches a certain threshold, which the government is currently setting, he said.
Mr Yeung told the city's lawmakers on Thursday that students at senior grades of primary schools will be the first to attend in-person classes, beginning April 19, while junior years will join two weeks later on May 3.
Secondary schools and kindergartens will resume face-to-face lessons in phases, starting from May 3.
Hong Kong is gradually recovering from its worst outbreak of Covid-19 since the pandemic began, which spiralled into the world's deadliest.
The city reported 2,492 positive cases on Friday, compared with five-digit daily infections at the peak of the wave last month. Officials have lifted a ban of flights from nine countries and will gradually relax many social distancing measures, including allowing dining in after 6pm, from April 21.
