In his first trip outside mainland China since the start of the pandemic, the Chinese president stayed less than 24 hours in Hong Kong and only met people who had been quarantined. But Steve Ho, a lawmaker from the pro-government Democratic Alliance for the Improvement and Progress of Hong Kong, revealed on Sunday that he had tested positive for Covid, a day after meeting Xi. Ho said he tested negative for Covid on June 30 when he and other local politicians met Xi. In footage released by the Hong Kong government, Ho was seen standing two rows behind Xi when the group took photos. Participants were masked. Ho later tested positive on July 1 and avoided attending events marking the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s transition from British to Chinese rule in 1997. Hong Kong continued to have nearly 2,000 new Covid cases a day, but its new chief executive, John Lee, said he had no immediate plans to carry out universal testing. Lee said universal testing should be done at the beginning or end of an outbreak. For now, he thought it was sufficient to test close contacts and people who were in facilities with confirmed cases. He also said there was no timetable for shortening Hong Kong’s seven-day entry quarantine. Meanwhile, in Macau, officials began a new round of citywide Covid testing on Monday for its more than 600,000 residents as officials scrambled to contain the worst outbreak to hit the world’s biggest gambling hub since the pandemic began . Macau has only one public hospital, whose services are already stretched on a daily basis. The move comes as the former Portuguese colony reported 90 new cases on Sunday, bringing the total to 784 since mid-June. More than 11,000 people are in quarantine. All non-essential government services are closed, schools, parks, sports and entertainment facilities are closed and restaurants can only provide takeout services. Casinos are allowed to remain open, but most staff have been told to stay home, according to instructions to the city’s residents. The government has said it will not close casinos to protect jobs. The strict measures come after Macau has been largely free of Covid since the outbreak in October 2021. With Reuters