Hong Kong keeps tracing COVID-19 through sewage surveillance

HONG KONG, July 6 (Xinhua) -- The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said on Wednesday that it will distribute 315,000 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.

The Environmental Protection Department and the Drainage Services Department have been collecting sewage samples for virus testing in all districts, and had detected positive results in some areas, the HKSAR government announced on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Hong Kong registered 2,672 confirmed locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 and 143 imported cases, official data showed.