HONG KONG, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong plans to start a mass screening for COVID-19 on Sept. 1 and aims to complete the testing in two weeks in an effort to bring the severe epidemic situation under control as recent support from the central government has boosted its testing capacity.

Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam announced the plan on Friday at a press conference.

The HKSAR government said earlier that the large-scale testing that may cover millions of people in Hong Kong will be conducted for free and on a voluntary basis. Lam said the scheme would not be possible if there were no support from the central government in lab personnel and testing services.

The central government set up a 60-strong nucleic acid testing team to help improve Hong Kong's testing capacity at the request of the HKSAR government, and the first batch of virus testing professionals arrived in Hong Kong to join the anti-epidemic fight at the beginning of August.