Hong Kong, China - Sept 16, 2020 (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Inland medical team members leaving hotel, Hong Kong residents bidding farewell, waving national flags
2. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Sophia Chan Siu-chee, Secretary for Food and Health:
"What matters is not how many people it involved, but it gave Hong Kong a good experience in having our citizens, our medial workers and public servants work together with the inland team to do a good job. It also allowed our anti-epidemic work to take a big stride forward. In case of another wave of the epidemic, our testing capacity has improved and we have gained rich experience in organizing such massive tests. So the testing program is a valuable experience."
3. Inland medical team members leaving hotel
4. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Local resident (name not given):
"Their involvement in this testing program helped us a lot. So we came here very early to see them off."
5. Inland medical team members leaving hotel
6. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Yu Dewen, member, Inland Nucleic Acid Testing Support Team:
"I'm excited to see the scene that people from various places spontaneously come to see us off. I'm also grateful to them for their understanding and cooperation with our work and their caring for us, which fully shows the blood-thicker-than-water endearment between Hong Kong and the inland. I believe that many of our team members are reluctant to leave. We will visit Hong Kong again, hopefully to come here as ordinary tourists."
7. Various of inland medical team members get on coach, leaving hotel

The inland medical team sent to Hong Kong to assist its massive nucleic acid tests against the COVID-19 started to leave the special administrative region on Wednesday morning as it has completed its mission.

Nearly 600 Chinese health professionals came to Hong Kong to support its fight against the COVID-19, its massive testing program in particular.

The testing program launched two weeks ago involved some 1.78 million residents in total.

Hong Kong's chief executive Carrie Lam called the program a huge success.

Speaking of the testing program, Sophia Chan Siu-chee, Secretary for Food and Health of the Hong Kong SAR government, stressed that it provides important experience for inland and Hong Kong health care workers to work together.

"What matters is not how many people it involved, but it gave Hong Kong a good experience in having our citizens, our medial workers and public servants work together with the inland team to do a good job. It also allowed our anti-epidemic work to take a big stride forward. In case of another wave of the epidemic, our testing capacity has improved and we have gained rich experience in organizing such massive tests. So the testing program is a valuable experience," said Sophia Chan Siu-chee.

Many local residents spontaneously came out to see the inland team off and expressed their gratitude for their work in Hong Kong.

"Their involvement in this testing program helped us a lot. So we came here very early to see them off," said a local resident.

Moved by the residents, members of the medical team also thanked them for their support and understanding during their stay in Hong Kong.

"I'm excited to see the scene that people from various places spontaneously come to see us off. I'm also grateful to them for their understanding and cooperation with our work and their caring for us, which fully shows the blood-thicker-than-water endearment between Hong Kong and the inland. I believe that many of our team members are reluctant to leave. We will visit Hong Kong again, hopefully to come here as ordinary tourists," said Yu Dewen, a member of the inland support team.

About 1,783,000 specimens were tested under the program over the past two weeks, in which 46 positive cases were identified.

In addition to five overlapped confirmed cases, eight recovered patients whose test results "turned positive again" and one who failed the retest due to insufficient specimen, the testing program had identified 32 confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government on Tuesday.