The Government announced that the compulsory testing exercises and enforcement operations for the restricted areas in To Kwa Wan, Chai Wan and Tuen Mun finished today.

One preliminary positive case was found in the Tuen Mun restricted area and that patient has been sent to the Community Treatment Facility at AsiaWorld-Expo for follow-up.

After the compulsory testing exercises, people in the restricted areas who can present SMS notifications with negative test results or are wearing wristbands as proof of having undergone testing can leave the areas.

The Government exercised the power under the Prevention & Control of Disease (Compulsory Testing for Certain Persons) Regulation on February 3 to make restriction-testing declarations, requiring people within the three restricted areas to stay in their premises and undergo compulsory testing.

They had to stay in their homes until all people in the areas were tested and the results were mostly ascertained.

Additionally, the Government issued compulsory testing notices to those who had been at these buildings for more than two hours from January 21 to February 3 to undergo compulsory testing before February 5 even if they were not in the restricted areas when the declaration took effect.

It set up temporary specimen collection stations at the restricted areas and requested people subject to mandatory testing to have their combined nasal and throat swab samples collected for COVID-19 testing.

About 241 residents in the To Kwa Wan restricted area, 1,820 in the Chai Wan one and 487 in Tuen Mun were tested.

Enforcement actions were carried out immediately after the compulsory testing exercises to verify that all people in the restricted areas were tested.

Three people in the Chai Wan restricted area who did not undergo mandatory testing were each issued a fixed $5,000 penalty.

Meanwhile, the Government assigned staff to visit more than 1,120 households in the three restricted areas, of which more than 70 did not answer the door. Some of them are possibly vacant units.

Those who did not answer the door are urged to contact the Government to arrange testing as soon as possible.