Hong Kong Mandates Students, Teachers To Take Daily Covid-19 Tests For Attending In-Person Classes, Unvaccinated Pupils Barred From Extracurriculars

Hong Kong students and teachers will be mandated to undergo daily rapid coronavirus tests when face-to-face classes resume after the Easter holiday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced today (Apr 11).

Primary schools in the city are set to resume face-to-face classes on April 19 while secondary schools are scheduled to revert to in-person teaching from May 3. In-person teaching at all kindergarten, primary, and secondary schools In Hong Kong was suspended in February, when the city faced a brutal fifth wave of coronavirus infections.

10 million screening kits will be provided to schools for free to ensure compliance with the order.

Only students and teachers who return a negative RAT (rapid antigen test) result every day will be allowed to enter schools. According to the new rules, if more than 5 per cent of teachers, staff and pupils at a school tested positive, the health authorities will be empowered to suspend face-to-face classes.

Addressing a press conference today, Lam said that unvaccinated pupils would not be allowed to take part in so-called non-academic subjects such as sports and music for their own protection.

“This is to protect students who are unvaccinated, because if they are unvaccinated but are together with those who are vaccinated, but one can still get infected and transmit [the virus] even if they are vaccinated…,” said Lam.

Hong Kong recorded 1,407 new coronavirus cases and 57 deaths on Monday.

Hong Kong has so far reported 1,190,183 Covid-19 infections and 8,770 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic two years ago.