The Government today announced that a series of enhancement measures are being rolled out to further assist the public to undergo nucleic acid tests.

One of the measures includes regularising a number of mobile specimen collection stations to become community testing centres (CTCs) and community testing stations (CTSs).

Coupled with the 19 existing CTCs and a new CTS to be set up at North Point Vehicular Ferry Pier Playground tomorrow, a total of 85 CTC/CTSs will constitute a community network covering all 18 districts in Hong Kong upon the regularisation.

The Government noted that as most of the testing centres and stations are located near MTR stations, around 70% of the population can reach them within 15 minutes' walk from their residence.

Additionally, the service hours of CTCs and CTSs have been extended and standardised with the 32 indoor/sheltered CTCs running daily from 8am to 8pm and the 52 outdoor CTSs from 10am to 8pm.

Some testing centres with a higher usage, including those at Southorn Playground in Wan Chai, Sau Ming Road Park in Kwun Tong, Lam Tin Service Reservoir Playground, Tong Ming Street Park in Tseung Kwan O and the hard-surfaced football pitch of Ma On Shan Recreation Ground, are running/will run daily from 8am to 8pm.

The CTC at Discovery Bay Community Hall will open daily from 10am to 8pm, and together with the 32 indoor/sheltered centres, will close from 1.30pm to 2pm for cleaning and disinfection.

Starting later this month, all 85 testing centres and stations will provide self-paid testing services at two pricing tiers: standard self-paid service and express self-paid service.

For the standard self-paid service, the service user will receive a test result report issued by the testing agency within 24 hours of specimen collection if the test result is negative. The price of the service is capped at $150.

For the express self-paid service, the service user will receive a test result report issued by the testing agency within 12 hours of specimen collection if the test result is negative. The price cap of the service is $240.

Two-tier pricing enables quicker nucleic acid test services at more affordable prices for the community or private purposes such as certifications for travelling or work, with the implementation date to be announced later. Testing agencies will provide various means of contactless payments. Outdoor testing stations will only accept contactless payments and not cash.

The Government will also expand the existing arrangements of online booking for testing services. From early November, online bookings will be progressively expanded from the 40-plus testing points to all 85 CTC/CTSs. Testing service bookings can be made online and the testing centres/stations will accord priority to serve individuals with advance bookings.

Meanwhile, a "green lane" will be set up at CTC/CTSs for high-risk groups such as staff of residential care homes and nursing homes to save the time they spend waiting on site.

Also starting in November, people undergoing voluntary testing have to use the Testing Registration Code to enjoy free tests. They should fill in information in advance in the LeaveHomeSafe mobile app to generate a user-designated QR code for scanning on site every time they undergo testing in lieu of inputting manual data.

Additionally, more testing agencies have been engaged through a competitive procurement process, with a total of 14 contractors to operate centres/stations, up from the current nine.

The Government noted that all these contractors are laboratories on its recognised list that have passed the Department of Health's External Quality Assessment Programme for COVID-19 testing and possess relevant laboratory accreditation. Factors such as testing capacity, past experience and performance of the testing agencies are duly considered in the course of the competitive procurement process.

About half of the CTC/CTSs will have new service providers and services will be suspended temporarily on some dates. Click here for the location, service dates/hours and contractors of CTC/CTSs. Those who wish to undergo COVID-19 testing through means other than CTC/CTSs may browse the dedicated website for advice.