Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam listens to a reporter's question during a news conference in Hong Kong, March 21, 2022. (VINCENT YU, POOL/AP)

HONG KONG – The Hong Kong government will encourage people to do more COVID-19 self-testing and will continue to carry out compulsory testing to identify and cut silent transmission chains, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said on Monday. 

The number of positive COVID-19 cases reported through self-administered rapid antigen tests has been greater than that from nucleic acid tests, indicating that the community has widely adopted self-testing, Lam told media representatives at the daily COVID-19 news briefing. 

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Lam said 70 million self-test kits will be provided to residents in the upcoming citywide distribution of anti-pandemic packages, adding that over six million sets were distributed to those in home quarantine previously. 

Lam expressed her deep condolences to the relatives of the over 7,000 people who have died as a result of the fifth wave

Lam also said the government will continue to conduct compulsory testing operations to contain the spread of the virus as much as possible. 

The preliminary positive cases found in the recent testing operations has dropped below 10 percent of the total number of tested residents, Lam added. 

Lam also expressed her deep condolences to the relatives of the over 7,000 people who have died as a result of the fifth wave of the COVID-19 outbreak, stressing the government is making every effort to assist the bereaved families. 

At the same event, Director of Health Ronald Lam Man-kin said the shortage of body storage space has been eased as public mortuaries, temporary spaces and venues provided by private hospitals can now provide a total of 4,600 places for storage. 

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More workers have been deployed to extend service hours for cremation services, Ronald Lam added.