In this Aug 21, 2020 photo, 50 medical professionals of a mainland nucleic acid test support team arrive in Hong Kong to help with the city's fight against COVID-19 pandemic. (PHOTO / HKSAR GOVERNMENT)

BEIJING – A Chinese central government spokesperson on Sunday expressed strong condemnation of and sent a stern warning against a smear campaign against the mainland's assistance with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's fight against COVID-19. 

Such mulslinging by Hong Kong-based anti-China troublemakers shows a gross disregard of Hong Kong residents' safety and health and is malicious, said a spokesperson for the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council in a statement. 

READ MORE: Privacy protection, safety in universal testing guaranteed 

Set to begin on Tuesday, the massive testing will be free and on a voluntary basis. The HKSAR government has reiterated the personal data of participants will be well protected.  

ALSO READ: HK ready to roll out 'safe and speedy' citywide virus testing

Senior Hong Kong officials urged the city residents again on Sunday to actively participate in the community testing, stressing that the more people participate in the testing, the faster will Hong Kong contain the epidemic.

The Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region also strongly condemned the malicious smears directed at the central government’s assistance to Hong Kong as Beijing works to help the city in its battle against COVID-19.

A spokesman for the office said that some people with ulterior motives have ignored people’s benefit and health by politicizing the fight against the pandemic. 

They spread malicious rumors to smear the mainland’s support and assistance to the Hong Kong SAR. Some radicals even violently attacked people who volunteered to promote the universal COVID-19 testing program.

These despicable acts have exposed the cold-blooded nature of the radicals. It is believed that the majority of HK residents can tell good from bad and will not be misled, the spokesman said.

SAR govt rebuts fallacious comments on testing 

And in Hong Kong, a spokesman for the SAR government on Sunday expressed deep disappointment and regret over the false information on the internet and social media platforms about the universal community testing program.

The spokesman stressed that the free, mass testing will help identify asymptomatic COVID-19 patients in the community, enabling members of the public to resume their normal lives and economic activities early, and appealed to members of the public to take the testing to demonstrate with action the concerted efforts of the community to fight the virus.

The government has noted that a number of exaggerated and false comments about the program were circulated on the internet and social media platforms in recent days, which contained fallacious information in various areas including the way specimens will be collected, infection control, as well as accuracy and effectiveness of testing. 

“These acts run counter to the spirit of the community to fight the disease together, and fall short of the expectations of the medical personnel and a large number of frontline staff members who have been working hard to fight the virus as well as enterprises and members of the public in support of the program,” he said.

“The acts are extremely disappointing and regretful and deserve the condemnation by the community,” the spokesman said.

The spokesman stressed that the testing is safe, convenient and quick, providing full protection of personal privacy. People should rest assured that that personal particulars, including the specimens and the testing results, will be kept only in Hong Kong and for testing purposes. The government will deal with the personal particulars of members of the public very carefully. 

“The workflow does not involve any transfer of personal particulars to institutions or persons outside the territory,” the spokesman said.

"The more the number of people taking part in the program, the more likely asymptomatic patients in the community are identified for isolation treatment, so that transmission chains can be cut and people's normal lives and economic activities can be resumed early," the spokesman said.

With inputs from Xinhua