Members of the mainland nucleic acid testing team arrive at Metropark Hotel Kowloon in Hong Kong, south China, Aug. 28, 2020. Another over 160 members of the mainland nucleic acid testing team have arrived in Hong Kong Friday for the Universal Community Testing Program (UCT Program) that starts on Sept. 1. Photo: Xinhua

Upon facing defamation on the mainland's aid to help the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) combat the COVID-19 epidemic from a number of troublemakers with ulterior motives, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of China's State Council, the Liaison Office of the Central Government in HKSAR and the HKSAR government issued statements on Sunday, condemning them for being vicious with no regard for the safety and health of Hong Kong residents.

A spokesperson from the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office slammed those anti-China troublemakers who defamed the mainland's aid to the city to combat the COVID-19, warning that such actions are malicious.

The spokesman said the central government is highly concerned about the COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong. At the request of the HKSAR government, the central government has dispatched medical teams from the mainland to Hong Kong to support the fight against the epidemic, including sending nucleic acid testing teams to the city to help carry out universal community testing, help build community treatment facilities and build temporary hospitals, and bear the relevant costs.

These measures show the central government's care for Hong Kong and the virtue of the people of the motherland and Hong Kong compatriots in helping each other. They are welcomed by the Hong Kong residents and hailed as a timely measure to help Hong Kong control the epidemic. More than 6,000 Hong Kong medical workers have signed up to help with the test.  

However, recently, a small number of people made unfounded denigrations of the qualifications of the mainland support teams' experts, the quality of their reagents and the safety of their laboratories. They also poured "dirty water" over citywide community testing, calling it a way of a "under-table operation."

Some people were found to have violated the policy of limiting gatherings while harassing members of the mainland nucleic acid testing advance team. Some controlled district councils and obstructed the implementation of the community testing and the Hong Kong version of the health code.

The troublemakers have politicized the measures taken by the mainland to help Hong Kong fight the epidemic and played a game of "political manipulation." Their purpose is to take every opportunity to undermine the prestige of the HKSAR government's governance, damage the image of the central government, discredit the the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics  and sow discord among the Hong Kong people toward the motherland, the spokesperson said. 

"We strongly support the HKSAR's law enforcement and judicial organs to punish those criminals who spread rumors and impede the fight against the epidemic according to law," the spokesperson said. 

The Liaison Office of the Central Government in Hong Kong also issued a statement, condemning a small number of troublemakers with ulterior motives in Hong Kong who created and spread malicious rumors to denigrate the mainland's aid and measures that help the city combat the epidemic.

"Their despicable acts will only expose their cold blood and ugly acts. We believe that the public can tell right from wrong and will not be misled by their vicious deeds," the office's spokesperson said. 

Following a statement on Saturday in which the HKSAR government explained that the goal of the Universal Community Testing Program (UCTP) is to identify asymptomatic COVID-19 patients in the community so as to cut the transmission chain, it once again issued a statement on Sunday, calling for the public to join in and use their concrete actions to show that the community is united in fighting the epidemic.

The HKSAR government spokesperson stressed that community testing is safe, convenient, fast and fully protects individual privacy. Infection control and social distancing measures are implemented in 141 community testing centers. All personal data, including test samples and test results, will only be used for testing purposes in Hong Kong.

The HKSAR government takes great care in handling the personal data of members of the public and will not provide any personal data to overseas organizations or persons.

Global Times