4. Arrangements for Testing and Reporting at Schools
4.2 Reporting Confirmed/Close Contact Cases
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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.
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- Confirmed cases include cases confirmed by recognised medical institutions, cases tested positive by nucleic acid tests (including deep throat saliva tests), or cases tested positive by RAT conducted by himself/herself with test results having been registered on the website of the DH.
Definition of close contacts
Generally, it refers to household members who live with the confirmed case.
- Under the circumstance of taking adequate health protection measures, staff and students who have been in contact with confirmed cases on campus are generally not considered as close contacts.
- For boarding sections (including special schools), close contacts in general refer to the boarders living in the same room with the confirmed cases, or boarders having had meals together with the confirmed cases.
Schools should remind staff or students of confirmed COVID-19 cases to report to the DH via the following website within 24 hours upon confirmation of obtaining the results :
(i) https://www.chp.gov.hk/cdpi/ (for reporting positive cases using nucleic acid test)
(ii) https://www.chp.gov.hk/ratp/ (for reporting positive cases using RAT)
School are required to collect positive results confirmed by RAT for all staff and students under their school-based mechanism and report case(s) tested positive (if any) via CHP’s dedicated website (https://www.idea.gov.hk/chp-cdb/SCHOOL) before 10 a.m. every day (2:00 p.m. every day for afternoon sessions of the schools) . Even if there is no case on that day, school should also report in the system to confirm.
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For individual staff or students tested positive with RAT, they should at the same time report their personal particulars to the CHP on their own using the related website.
Kindergartens-cum-child care centres must report cases of the kindergarten portion as well as the child care centres portion under them.
If activities are conducted on Saturdays, schools should report case(s) tested positive (if any) via CHP’s dedicated website (https://www.idea.gov.hk/chp-cdb/SCHOOL)
The CHP will take follow-up actions upon receiving the positive case notifications from schools. The CHP will conduct epidemiological investigations and consider other anti-epidemic measures. Taking into account the actual circumstances, the CHP will decide whether to contact the schools to give further instruction. Generally speaking, the CHP will not contact schools only having sporadic cases. If the positive cases have reached a particular level, schools should refer to para. 4.3 of the guidelines for follow-up actions.
As the reporting of cases involve the personal data of staff and students, schools should pay attention to the “Guidance for Schools on the
“Collection and Use of Personal Data of Teachers, Staff and Students during COVID-19 Pandemic” issued by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data when collecting data and reporting cases.
(Website:
https://www.pcpd.org.hk/english/resources_centre/publications/files/guid ance_covid19.pdf)
Boarding Section of Special Schools
Same as the requirements for non-boarding students, special schools should require all boarders to undergo RATs every day before they go to schools. As the boarding sections of special schools are still in operation
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during school holidays, schools should require all staff of boarding sections and boarders to undergo RATs on non-school days to strengthen the health protection for boarders.
If staff of the boarding section or boarders are tested positive for COVID-19, apart from reporting to the DH within 24 hours via the dedicated websites [https://www.chp.gov.hk/cdpi/ (for reporting positive cases using nucleic acid test) or https://www.chp.gov.hk/ratp/ (for reporting positive cases using RAT)]as above mentioned, boarding sections of special schools should also report to the Central Notification Office (CENO) of the DH as early as possible (Email: group_occ_notification@dh.gov.hk； Telephone﹕2477 2772；Fax﹕2477 2770) to facilitate epidemiological investigation and infection control, and the CHP will contact schools for further instructions in accordance with the actual circumstances
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In addition, boarding sections should maintain close communication with staff, parents and students, keep sickness records of staff and students, and report suspected COVID-19 cases with symptoms (for example, fever, symptoms of upper respiratory infections and sudden loss of taste and smell) early when necessary. When boarders are tested positive for COVID-19 and reported accordingly, they must stay in the boarding sections to wait for the further instructions from the CHP for making arrangements for infected persons to receive isolation or treatment according to the multi-tiered triage. Boarding sections may also seek help by contacting the related advanced practice nurses of the Hospital Authority. When the boarding sections are taking care of boarders while they are waiting for admission to hospitals or in isolation facilities, they should pay close attention to their health conditions and if they develop serious symptoms, they should go to the Accident and Emergency department as soon as possible. If it is necessary to obtain health advice, schools may call the CHP’s Hotline (Telephone:
1830111, 2125 1111 or 2125 1122, operates during 9am to 8pm every day) or email to (group_occ_notification@dh.gov.hk / mco@dh.gov.hk) for enquiries. Besides, they may call the support hotline of the Hospital
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Authority (Telephone: 1836115, operates during 9am to 7 pm every day) which will answer medical related enquiries for the confirmed cases awaiting admission into isolation facilities, as well as provide infection control advice. Schools may refer to the following website:
https://www.ha.org.hk/goto/pre-admission_support/en/ for the latest information.
If boarders are confirmed cases, the facilities and equipment of the boarding section are in general difficult to cater for the needs of students being isolated. If the students continue to stay in the boarding section, it will pose a significant health risk to other boarders and staff. Schools should report such cases to the CHP to facilitate epidemiological investigation and follow up isolation arrangements, and according to the situation, parents will be notified to take sick students home and seek medical treatment as required. The boarding section of schools can make reference to the guidelines issued by the CHP “Health Advice to Schools for the Prevention of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)” at Annex 1.
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