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Coronavirus Hong Kong
Hong KongHealth & Environment

Coronavirus: online booking system for PCR tests halves wait time at Shenzhen checkpoint for Hong Kong cross-border travellers

  • Procedures mostly smooth with wait time for test results cut from three hours previously to about 1½ on Friday morning, but crowd builds by afternoon
  • City reports 3,574 new Covid-19 infections, including 216 imported ones, on Friday and five related fatalities

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Cross-border travellers at Shenzhen Bay Port. Photo: K. Y. Cheng
Oscar Liu
Hong Kong residents crossed the mainland China border via Shenzhen Bay Port twice as fast as before on Friday due in part to a new online booking system for Covid-19 tests, but demand for the screening was only about half of capacity.

According to health officials at the checkpoint, one of two land crossings still operating amid the pandemic, 500 travellers on Friday had completed their polymerase chain reaction (PCR) screenings, mostly with negative results, and crossed the border as of 1.30pm.

The waiting time was cut from three hours previously to about 1½ hours with the new measure in place. About 15 travellers the Post interviewed said the process was relatively smooth in the morning, but the line became longer by lunchtime.

Staff in medical gear at the Shenzhen Bay checkpoint, which adopted new rules on Friday. Photo: K. Y. Cheng
Staff in medical gear at the Shenzhen Bay checkpoint, which adopted new rules on Friday. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Hong Kong on Friday confirmed 3,574 new Covid-19 infections, including 216 imported ones, and five virus-related deaths. The city’s overall coronavirus tally stands at 1,286,834 cases, with 9,432 related fatalities.

Health officials also reported an outbreak linked to St Catherine’s International Kindergarten in Kowloon Tong, with seven school bus drivers, a nanny and two pupils infected.

The drivers and the nanny had previously eaten lunch together, while the two pupils later tested positive for the virus after travelling by bus with the latter and one of the drivers.

A total of 26 children who travelled on the same bus have been asked not to attend classes for a week.

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