Hong Kong (AFP)

Hong Kong on Tuesday launched a massive free and voluntary testing campaign for Covid-19, but the initiative is undermined by distrust of local authorities and the involvement of mainland Chinese companies.

This campaign aims to put an end to a third wave of epidemics which has caused the population to experience a painful summer of restrictions and which has plagued the economy a little more.

But its success is most uncertain.

The involvement of companies and doctors from mainland China has fueled fears that it may also be a vast DNA collection operation, as the city experiences a strong takeover by Beijing, a year after the crisis Politics.

Since registration opened on Saturday, 510,000 people have registered to be tested, or around 7% of the population.

- "Waste of time" -

"It will help Hong Kong to emerge safe and sound from the pandemic and allow the resumption of daily activities," she assured reporters.

But public health experts have said it would take five million people to get tested to effectively uncover unidentified chains of contamination.

In comparison with the rest of the world, and in particular the densely populated territories, Hong Kong is an example with around 4,800 cases of coronavirus identified since the arrival of the disease at the end of January, of which three quarters since the beginning of July.

The screening campaign will last one to two weeks, depending on demand.

The number of daily tests is limited so as not to risk promoting contagion.

"I do it for myself and for others," Winnie Chan, a mother in her thirties, told AFP as she waited to be tested.

"I trust and support government policy."

But others had no intention of participating.

"It's a waste of time," Emily Chan told AFP.

"The government has not convinced me about the effectiveness of the program."

- Calls for boycott -

The help of doctors and laboratories from mainland China has undeniably done a disservice to the campaign by fueling rumors and concerns about Beijing's close surveillance of Chinese citizens.

Hong Kong experts further claimed that public funds would have been better used through screening campaigns targeted at populations at risk.

Some have even worried about the risk, by calling on the population to go to screening centers, to promote contamination, while gathering in public with more than two is currently prohibited.

A group of pro-democracy activists, including Joshua Wong, even called for a boycott of the campaign.

The Hong Kong executive, for his part, assured that the DNA of those tested would not be taken and that no samples would be sent to mainland China.

Ms Lam had presented those opposed to the campaign as "anti-Beijing and anti-government activities" which "jump at every opportunity to generate unrest and encourage confrontation, even on public health issues. ".

The Chinese Bureau for Hong Kong and Macao Affairs has called those opposed to screening "anti-Chinese radicals" who "despise" public health.

Some of the criticisms, however, came from epidemiologists collaborating with the government, such as microbiologist Ho Pak-leung who considered that this campaign amounted to "wasting cartridges".

While the number of new cases had fallen to zero, Hong Kong experienced a sharp upsurge in contamination from July, mainly linked to cases in professions that were exempt from strict quarantine measures.

The daily number of new cases, however, has never exceeded 150 and is now stabilized around the twenties.

It is by citing the resurgence of cases that Ms. Lam decided to postpone the legislative elections scheduled for September by one year.

A decision condemned by the pro-democracy opposition which intended to capitalize at the ballot box on the popularity of the 2019 protest.

© 2020 AFP