LAHORE – Hong Kong is lifting almost all of its Covid restrictions this week, a day after China announced the same.
People arriving in Hong Kong will no longer have to do mandatory PCR tests from Thursday. Moreover, the vaccine pass system will also be abolished.
It has also been announced that close contacts of Covid-positive people won’t need to quarantine while the limit of maximum gathering of 12 outside has also been waived off in spree of reforms.
The only restriction to stay in place is wearing face masks in public spots. A special administrative region of China, Hong Kong had some of the toughest restrictions in the world.
Hong Kong’s leader, John Lee, has quoted high vaccine rates as one of the reasons for easing restrictions. The official stats by the government confirm that 93% of the population have had two vaccine doses, while more than 83% have received three.
Hong Kong has used mRNA vaccines – including the BioNTech jab made in Germany – that have a better efficiency.
“Hong Kong has a sufficient amount of medicine to fight Covid, and healthcare workers have gained rich experience in facing the pandemic,” Mr Lee said on Wednesday.
Mr Lee highlighted that the city would take ‘more targeted measures’ including promoting vaccination for the elderly and children.
The casualty count in Hong Kong is over 11,000 according to official numbers.
