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Issued on: 01/09/2020 - 18:33
Text by: FRANCE 24
Hong Kong began a vast Covid-19 testing programme on Tuesday, September 1, which authorities say is necessary to control the virus. But calls for millions of Hong Kong citizens to undergo testing have fallen flat amid fears China is secretly using the scheme to collect DNA and other information of participants.
Around 10,000 people underwent the free and voluntary tests on the first day of the campaign, including Hong Kong leader Chief Executive Carrie Lam.
But amid an increasingly severe crackdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement by Beijing, the direct involvement of mainland Chinese firms and doctors in the testing scheme has raised concerns.
China has previously been accused by human rights groups of collecting DNA and other biometric data as part of mass surveillance efforts, particularly among ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang, and some fear the Covid-19 tests are merely cover for a similar scheme in Hong Kong.
https://www.france24.com/en/20200901...sting?ref=tw_i
Text by: FRANCE 24
Hong Kong began a vast Covid-19 testing programme on Tuesday, September 1, which authorities say is necessary to control the virus. But calls for millions of Hong Kong citizens to undergo testing have fallen flat amid fears China is secretly using the scheme to collect DNA and other information of participants.
Around 10,000 people underwent the free and voluntary tests on the first day of the campaign, including Hong Kong leader Chief Executive Carrie Lam.
But amid an increasingly severe crackdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement by Beijing, the direct involvement of mainland Chinese firms and doctors in the testing scheme has raised concerns.
China has previously been accused by human rights groups of collecting DNA and other biometric data as part of mass surveillance efforts, particularly among ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang, and some fear the Covid-19 tests are merely cover for a similar scheme in Hong Kong.
https://www.france24.com/en/20200901...sting?ref=tw_i