Hong Kong Stops Various Covid Restrictions, Abandoned Vaccine Permits

DDHK. ORG – Hong Kong will terminate any remaining pandemic measures. This took effect last Thursday, including permits vaccines, PCR tests for international arrivals, outdoor gathering limits, and quarantine for close contacts of infected persons.

Reporting from RTHK extension, the end of this vaccine scheme means that people no longer have to be injected against Covid to be allowed to enter various places, including restaurants, bars and cinemas. And the days of showing injection records to staff for admission are over.

After this policy was lifted, more than 12 people could gather outdoors, restaurant tables no longer had to be at least 1,5 meters apart, and the limit on the number of diners sitting together disappeared.

Likewise for test orders for each building removed entirely.

However, the mask-wearing rule remains in place, infected persons must remain self-isolating, and daily rapid Covid tests for children going to school, as well as nursing home staff and residents, are still a requirement at this stage.

Meanwhile people are coming from abroad no longer required to take PCR tests. They must undergo a PCR or rapid test before traveling to Hong Kong.

In addition, residents outside Hong Kong who come to Hong Kong it would be advisable to do a rapid test for the first six days.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Chief Executive John Lee said the government was "further stepping up" anti-pandemic measures because there were now relatively high rates of vaccination in the community and sufficient drugs to fight Covid.

He added, over the past three years, medical personnel and the public in general have also understood how to deal with a pandemic.

Lee said authorities would now focus on preventing serious illness and death from Covid.

He added, this aims to protect high-risk groups such as the elderly.

He denied the change in Covid restrictions was sudden or swift. He also said the authorities had made preparations so that society would return to normal.

“There will always come a day when we have to make a big decision about normalization. That's what we're doing now, because the time is right for us to do it, after six months of preparing to do all of this. In fact, I think society as a whole is getting ready because I've heard a lot of voices saying this is the thing to do," he said.

Mask Use in Hong Kong

Health Secretary Lo Chung-mau said the authorities would only consider canceling the mask mandate when spring arrives.

“The benefits of masks, especially now that we are facing a serious winter wave, are extraordinary. We need to continue the mask mandate to protect our citizens from the risks of not only Covid but also influenza and other respiratory infections. infection," he said.

Lo said authorities had purchased more paracetamol and other painkillers and would stockpile enough of them after pharmacies reported running out of supplies in recent days.

With mainland borders expected to reopen soon, the health chief said locals would get priority in receiving public health services and medicines. Meanwhile, non-residents will be charged more than HK$6.000 if they are prescribed oral Covid drugs at a public hospital.

He added that the government was not giving free Covid shots to non-residents if they only stayed in Hong Kong for a short time, but said those people could go to private hospitals to get vaccinated.

Siddharth Sridhar of the University of Hong Kong's Department of Microbiology said he welcomed the latest easing of Covid measures.

"I think, in general, it's time for us to move on," he said.

He added that while the coronavirus is unlikely to go away, people now have fairly strong protection against it. [DDHK News]