Some 50,800 students begin their Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education written exams today, with the first subject being English language.
"Hundreds of DSE exam centers" are ready to kick off of the three-week exam period, the exam authority said.
A new "designated exam center" for
Covid-positive candidates has been set up in San Po Kong, at the former Cognitio College (Kowloon) campus on 96 King Fuk Street, the authority added.
In all centers, everyone must keep their masks on during the tests and fill in a health declaration form after measuring their body temperature every day. Students can enter the venues from 7.45am and will sit at least 1.5 meters apart.
The designated exam center will have the same setting and arrangement as normal centers, but supervisors will put on protective gear, while candidates' answer booklets and stationery will be collected into sealed plastic bags and sanitized.
Covid-positive candidates can either take the exams at the designated venue or consider an assessed subject result up to Level 5 with documentary evidence.
Infected students must call 36288860 or e-mail the exam authority at rat@hkeaa.edu.hk before 7.30am on the exam day to ask to take the exam at the designated venue.
The authority's chairman Samuel Yung Wing-ki thanked the government for their support in setting up the venue.
"The designated venue, the 430 schools holding the exam and the over 400 special exam centers for students with special education needs, are ready for the start of the DSE," Yung said.
"With the designated venue, we hope infected candidates can still have the opportunity to attend the exam so as not to waste their years of preparation," he added.
He also reminded students to stay healthy and added: "Try your best and have no regrets."
Meanwhile, the authority's secretary general Wei Xiangdong encouraged students to take the exam in stride.
Yung, Wei and director of public exams Ricardo Mak King-sang inspected the Hong Kong Sze Yap Commercial and Industrial Association Wong Tai Shan Memorial College in Sham Shui Po yesterday to observe the exam arrangement, including the temperature test corner outside the exam hall.
The authority also reminded candidates to bring an umbrella during the next few days of exams, as the Observatory forecasts showers and thunderstorms in the city today.
The Observatory also expected the weather to be mainly cloudy with a few showers until Tuesday.