Hong Kong tested thousands of people for coronavirus on Tuesday at the start of a mass-testing effort that’s become another political flash point in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

Volunteers stood in lines at some of the more than 100 testing centres, though many residents are distrustful over the resources and staff being provided by China’s central government and some have expressed fear DNA could be collected.

The Hong Kong government has dismissed such concerns, and leader Carrie Lam urged the public to see the programme in a fair and objective light and appealed to critics to stop discouraging people from being tested since participation was crucial to the programme’s success.

Priscilla Pun, a sales manager, got tested to give herself peace of mind. “I don’t see any reason not to do it, and this way I can let my family in Canada know that I am safe,” said Pun, who was tested at a centre in the eastern Quarry Bay neighbourhood.

Others, like Giselle Ming, said that she decided to take part to support the Hong Kong government’s initiative even though she was not worried that she might be a carrier of the coronavirus. “In this bad situation of the coronavirus, I hope I can do something to help the society,” she said.

Lam said at her weekly news conference that over 10,000 people, including most of Hong Kong’s government ministers, had been tested by Tuesday morning.

“This large-scale universal community testing programme is beneficial to fighting the epidemic and beneficial to our society.