Hong Kong puts plan to test entire population for COVID-19 on hold

Hong Kong’s plan to test its whole population for COVID-19 in March has been put on hold, leader Carrie Lam announced Wednesday.

Lam previously said all 7 million residents would be tested for the virus this month as cases and deaths have skyrocketed in the city.

“Now the situation is that planning and preparation are still underway, but it is not a priority to do [mass testing]. When to do it will be a collective decision, and will take into account the opinions of experts,” Lam said in explaining the city’s decision to drop the testing that would have required 1 million residents to get tested a day, The Associated Press reported. 

“If we are going to do it properly, we have to tell people that until you’ve got a negative result, you can’t go out and about,” Lam added.

Hong Kong has been struggling to get its cases under control, with 58,750 new cases recorded Wednesday along with 195 deaths. 

Lam said the city has “no specific time frame” to reschedule the planned mass testing that was set to take place, according to the AP. 

The city has thus far resisted another coronavirus lockdown but has postponed its elections to May amid the spike in cases.