Daily Tests for Teachers and Pupils When Schools Resume

The government announced yesterday (April 11) in a press conference that all staff, teachers, and pupils will have to conduct daily rapid antigen tests and test negative to enter schools upon the resumption of classes on April 19.

Schools will resume face-to-face classes in phases following the Easter weekend.

“In order to reduce infection risks in schools, once students are going to go back to school learning, initially — we have not said that this will be forever — but initially for a period we would require all the staff, the teachers and the students to take daily RATs and they could only go into the school if the test result is a negative one,” Chief Executive Carrie Lam told reporters.

“If it is a positive one, then they have to notify the school and declare such findings to the Centre for Health Protection for any follow-up actions.”

The government will provide more than 10 million sets of free RAT kits to schools, distributing to around 300,000 students in need.