Early Identification

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Undergoing regular Rapid Antigen Test and Reporting Timely

 Schools should require all staff (including teaching and non-teaching staff), school bus, school light bus drivers, escorts and students to complete RAT on every school day. Generally speaking, RAT should be conducted in the morning every day. Only persons obtaining negative test results are allowed to return to schools for work or lessons. Parents should follow the instructions and timely report the RAT results of their children before the latter go to schools. Schools should remind parents that students tested positive should not return to schools and such cases should be reported to schools immediately. Also, siblings residing in the same household with the students who are tested positive should not return to school. The schools of such siblings should be informed of the situation . The CHP advises that, for hygiene’s sake, students should not bring their used RAT devices to schools.

 Schools should request parents that they should ensure that their children have completed RATs (including taking part in half-day supplementary academic classes or extra-curricular activities conducted on Saturdays) every day before returning to school and bring the “Record Sheet for Body Temperature and Rapid Antigen Test” (Annex 5) signed by the parents/guardians to schools.

 Schools may conduct spot checks and ask students concerned to re-test as appropriate.

 Staff and students concerned must also report their RAT positive results within 24 hours via the “Declaration System for individuals tested positive for COVID-19 using Rapid Antigen Test” (Website:

https://www.chp.gov.hk/ratp/) under the CHP. For procedures of reporting cases to the CHP, please refer to para. 4.2 of the guidelines.

 Schools may remind parents that when choosing RAT kits, reference could

be made to the following lists:

https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/rat/eng/rat.html

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 For staff or students who were recently infected with COVID-19 and submitted relevant proof (for example, isolation order, medical certificates, recovery record or QR code, etc.), they are not required to undergo RATs (excluding those with symptoms) within three months from the specimen collection date of positive test result..

 Parents taking their children to schools or picking up their children from schools are exempted from conducting RATs.

Undergoing Rapid Antigen Tests at school

 If students have not completed RATs timely before returning to schools, provided that prior consents of the parents have been obtained, schools should assist students to undergo RATs (e.g. by giving a student a RAT test kit and ask the student to conduct the test by himself/herself, or having a school staff to assist the student to complete the test).

 The RAT testing can be conducted in a playground or a designated room such as the medical room. The room should be well-ventilated with door / windows open to increase fresh air as appropriate. A better venue will be one installed with an exhaust fan or an air purifier to reduce indoor pollutants or viruses. The staff who assists the student concerned to take RAT must wear a well-fitted surgical mask, gloves and face-shield.

Personal hygiene and environmental hygiene must be observed while taking the respiratory specimen. After completing the test, the staff must wash their hands. If the environment is contaminated during the process, the school must clean the environment with 1 in 49 diluted bleach solution.

For metallic surfaces, use 70% alcohol to disinfect the area. After conducting the test, wrap and seal all the components of the test kit carefully according to manufacturers’ instructions, dispose of them properly, and wash hands afterwards. Upon completion, cleansing and disinfection of the room, tables and chairs should be conducted. More information on undergoing RATs can be found in the following website:

https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/rat/eng/rat.html

Handling of Cases Tested Positive with RATs at School

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 When a test conducted at schools is positive, take a photo immediately after reading the test result. To avoid further spread of the virus, the school should keep the student at the testing venue and prevent other persons from entering the venue. In addition, the school should remind the student to wear a well-fitted surgical mask and keep his/her hands clean and hygienic, inform the parent/guardian immediately and arrange the student to go home directly from the school as early as possible. Besides, the school should remind the parents to report via the “Declaration System for individuals tested positive for COVID-19 using Rapid Antigen Test” as early as possible. If personal particulars of household members are also reported at the same time, such household members (including the siblings of the student) will receive Short Message Service (SMS) messages and will receive isolation orders after uploading their identity card details.

Paying attention to the overall health conditions of teachers and students

 To strengthen the preventive measures against COVID-19 and heighten the vigilance of staff towards students’ health, schools should have full knowledge of whether there are any confirmed cases of COVID-19, or if there are any close contacts of confirmed cases with COVID-19 among staff and students. Schools should stay vigilant if their staff or students have travelled outside Hong Kong.

 Principals and teachers should pay attention to the mental and physical health conditions of their staff and students. In case any peculiar symptoms are observed, schools should take body temperatures for the staff and students. Schools should prevent staff or students who feel unwell from taking off their masks in the school campus for undergoing RAT. If any staff and students feel unwell, schools should arrange the patients to the medical room to take rest. If the patient is a student, schools should inform the parents to take the student back home and advise the parents to arrange the student to seek medical advice. In case the student has a fever or is seriously ill, but the school cannot contact his/her parents or guardians, the student should be sent to the emergency department of a nearby hospital for medical treatment. The staff who are temporarily taking care of the

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student should wear a well-fitted surgical mask and gloves and put in place all precautionary measures.

 Schools should remind students to pay attention to the health conditions of themselves and their counterparts. In case anyone feels unwell, one should inform teachers and staff as soon as possible.

 For staff or students who are absent from schools, schools should keep close contact with the staff or parents/ guardians concerned to find out their reasons for absence and keep proper sick leave records for early identification of illnesses.