The Government today launched the first stage of the distribution exercise of anti-epidemic service bags, with Chief Executive Carrie Lam and government officials taking part in the event.

The 18 District Offices began distributing the service bags to all households across the city starting at 10am. As at 6pm, over 1.57 million service bags had been dispensed. 

Mrs Lam visited a "three-nil" private building in Central & Western District to issue the service bags door to door.

She also took the opportunity to appeal to the residents to make good use of the rapid antigen test kits inside the bags.

The Chief Executive encouraged them to test themselves, together with all of their family members, for three consecutive days, from April 8 to April 10, to help identify COVID-19 cases and stabilise the epidemic situation early.

Meanwhile, Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng handed out service bags to households in San Po Kong.

She also visited a single elderly person and an ethnic minority family to learn more about their living conditions and challenges they face under the epidemic.

Separately, Secretary for Transport & Housing Frank Chan distributed service bags in Shek Kip Mei Estate and visited three elderly tenants living there.

As for Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Christopher Hui, he led his team in visiting "three-nil" buildings and transitional housing under the Lok Sin Tong Modular Social Housing Scheme in Kowloon City to hand out the anti-epidemic supplies to grassroots families.

The Education Bureau also actively participated by delivering the service bags to residents and grassroots families living in "three-nil" buildings in Yau Tsim Mong.

Moreover, Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung visited a number of households, including newly arrived families and ethnic minority families, to ensure they receive the service bags as well.