The Government today appealed to people who wish to undergo COVID-19 nucleic acid testing to make an online booking in advance for a testing time slot at a community testing centre or station (CTC/CTS) with more testing places.

They should also avoid going to busier CTC/CTSs without a booking so as to reduce their waiting time.

The Government noted that the testing capacity is sufficient to meet the demand of cross-boundary passenger flows before the Lunar New Year.

To cater for citizens’ testing needs, manpower has been ramped up and more registration/swabbing booths have been set up at certain busier CTC/CTSs.

The Government reminded citizens that testing centres and stations will accord priority for testing to individuals who have made a booking, and individual testing centres and stations will be busier in the evening.

To facilitate citizens who need to get tested, the Government has published online the latest booking status of all testing centres and stations. It will also update from time to time the list of centres and stations with fewer users on the day on the CTC website. 

Separately, people travelling to the Mainland are reminded that they do not need to return to CTC/CTSs specifically for collecting paper form reports.

For the purpose of cross-boundary travel, electronic reports issued by testing institutions, and the self-paid nucleic acid testing electronic record available for download from the COVID-19 Electronic Testing Record System are also accepted for presentation and checking by relevant staff at boundary control points.