Hong Kong may be beginning to emerge from the devastation of the third wave of COVID-19 infections that crept up on us back in early July, but we are far from out of the woods.

The first 12 days of the third wave recorded three-digit-high cases daily before dropping down to two-digit cases a day over the last 20 days. While this is an encouraging drop in infections, we must remain just as vigilant and not become complacent.

Every day we have been reporting cases, but we have been unable to trace the origins of at least 40 percent of the infections. This means asymptomatic carriers abound who are unwittingly spreading the virus across Hong Kong.  

We must appeal to each and every Hong Kong residents to partake in the Universal Community Testing Programme to fight COVID-19 and stop it in its tracks once and for all.

The UCTP has recruited 6,000 health workers to carry out tests with 4,000 civil servants assisting in clerical and logistical matters. The central government has also done its part to send medical personnel to Hong Kong to maintain the labs required for testing.

Communitywide testing — or ideally, testing the entire population of Hong Kong — is essential so that we can trace all these asymptomatic carriers as soon as possible.

We must work for the greater good of our community to help others, as well as ourselves. The sooner we stop the spread, the sooner we can get Hong Kong back on track and resume normal social and economic activities. Hong Kong people have been through the mill this year, but we must hold out just a little longer before we can safely say that we have weathered the storm

We must also call on the public to not drop its guard when it comes to personal hygiene and social distancing. If you can stay home, then do it. If you have everything you need at home, such as food and other necessities, then do not venture outside.

Equally, we must use our personal protective equipment at all appropriate times when we go out. Wearing appropriate masks in the right way, wearing eye goggles, washing or sterilizing hands frequently, do not touch your face unless and until you have cleaned your hands. All these are basic and important maneuvers to protect yourself and other people around you. When possible, keep the social distance of at least 1.5 meters.

The UCTP is being smeared by the naysayers in the opposition camp. They claim that these tests are overloading our healthcare system, due to the considerable number of false positive results. The opposition also argues that the undue panic caused by false positives is far more damaging than beneficial in fighting COVID-19. 

They should know well that those who are tested positive by the UCTP are required to take two more tests to rule out a false positive result. The likelihood of three false positive results is infinitesimal — if not non-existent — so the opposition’s argument in this respect has no leg to stand on.

Their additional “concerns” about the swab test being “uncomfortable” and questioning the expertise of the testing personnel are just two more thin arguments against communitywide testing. Speaking from personal experience after being tested on the morning of the day the UCTP was launched, these tests were conducted by experienced and well-trained medical personnel, who were guided by even more experienced individuals. Furthermore, these tests only took about two minutes and were certainly not painful, so this is another argument that has fallen flat on its face. 

Cross-infection during tests can also be ruled out, as testers enforce strict social distancing measures and change testing equipment including gloves for each testee. 

As for concerns regarding the misuse of samples for collecting DNA and personal data of those who come in for testing, every specimen that comes to the lab for testing is marked with a bar code to ensure anonymity, and all samples are destroyed after the required tests have been completed.

There is no single foolproof measure that will bring down COVID-19 for good, but communitywide testing will significantly supplement the many effective measures that are already in place. The opposition’s argument that “imperfect equates to useless” is a poor one, as the current measures and testing will work in tandem. In the present situation with an unknown number of asymptomatic carriers going around in the community spreading the virus, the best and maybe the only way to cut the transmission chains is to test, to trace, to isolate and to treat all these asymptomatic carriers. That is why we are appealing to all Hong Kong residents to come forward to join the UCTP.

In an ideal world, we would be able to test all 7.5 million Hong Kong residents but we may have to settle for 5 million. Anything south of that figure would be suboptimal to combating the pandemic.

Only by cutting these transmission chains can we allow more of the population to resume their normal economic activities and pump revenue back into our moribund economy.

Our economy has already suffered enough and it therefore requires urgent economic activity to stimulate it back into being.

The upcoming winter will also likely usher in a sharp rise in cases, so communitywide testing now will be a good dress rehearsal for mass testing in the not-too-distant future.

Whatever the case, the message here is a clear and simple one: Testing saves lives, and we must work for the greater good of our community to help others, as well as ourselves.

The sooner we stop the spread, the sooner we can get Hong Kong back on track and resume normal social and economic activities. Hong Kong people have been through the mill this year, but we must hold out just a little longer before we can safely say that we have weathered the storm.

The author is president of Wisdom Hong Kong, a think tank.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.