People cross a road in Causeway Bay district in Hong Kong, Feb 21, 2022. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

HONG KONG – The government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has said it will distribute around 290,000 sets of COVID-19 rapid antigen test (RAT) kits as part of a follow-up on the recent detection of the COVID-19 virus in sewage samples.

The test kits will be distributed to residents, cleaning workers and property management staff working in the areas with positive sewage testing results showing relatively high viral loads to help identify infected persons.

READ MORE: HK logs 2,992 infections, including 219 imported cases

On Sunday, the SAR government also urged kit users to report any positive results for COVID-19 via the government's online platform.

The city registered 2,773 confirmed locally transmitted and 219 imported cases of COVID-19 the same day.

Since the start of a mass inoculation program in February last year, about 6.75 million people, or 92.7 percent of the eligible population in Hong Kong, have taken at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines, while over 6.47 million, or 89 percent of the eligible population, two doses.

ALSO READ: Over 166,000 HK residents take 4th dose of COVID-19 shot

As of Sunday, 65.1 percent of the eligible people in Hong Kong have taken their third booster doses, while total 167,569 people have taken a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccines, official data showed.