Seven members of the Mainland nucleic acid test support team arrived in the city today to support the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government’s anti-epidemic work.

In a statement tonight, the Hong Kong SAR Government said it made a request for the central government’s support on the anti-epidemic work in the face of the severe COVID-19 epidemic.

The Hong Kong SAR Government expressed heartfelt gratitude to the central government for its proactive response and speedy formation of the nucleic acid test support team for Hong Kong.

The support team was co-ordinated by the central government and formed by the National Health Commission.

The seven members will start work tomorrow by assisting with the preparation for a temporary laboratory with a view to raising the virus testing capability considerably to meet the Hong Kong SAR Government’s need to extend its community testing coverage.

To strengthen collaboration, Chief Executive Carrie Lam gave clear instructions on how to launch large-scale virus testing in the internal anti-epidemic steering committee meeting held yesterday afternoon.

Secretary for Food & Health Prof Sophia Chan and Secretary for Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang represented the Hong Kong SAR Government to welcome the seven-member team.

The statement noted that the Hong Kong SAR’s relevant departments will work closely with the team to formulate a concrete work plan as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong SAR Government noticed that certain individuals are spreading rumours intentionally on the Internet, claiming that the public’s DNA data will be transported to the Mainland during virus testing.

The Hong Kong SAR Government solemnly clarified that this is absolutely unfounded, emphasising that all of its anti-epidemic work completely complies with the requirements of the law.

It pointed out that the central government's support aims at enhancing the virus testing capacity, adding that all testing will only be conducted in Hong Kong and related samples will not be transported to the Mainland for testing.

The Hong Kong SAR Government condemned the acts of those deliberately spreading false rumours and attacking its anti-epidemic work.

As to whether spreading untrue claims intentionally by certain individuals would constitute a criminal offence, relevant government departments will study the matter carefully and collect evidence for follow-up, it said.

In addition to the support team, the Hong Kong SAR Government said it is pleased to learn that the National Health Commission has formed another support team to help it establish a makeshift community treatment facility at AsiaWorld-Expo similar to the "mobile cabin hospital".

The Hong Kong SAR Government expressed the hope that with the support of the central government, the whole community will fight the virus together to curb the increasingly severe epidemic as soon as possible.