Hong Kong, Feb 9 (IANS): Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), has said "zero Covid-19" is the best strategy for Hong Kong's current anti-epidemic situation.
Lam said the dynamic "zero infection" approach is in the public's interest as it protects public health and safety, stressing that Hong Kong should adhere to the anti-epidemic strategy to buy time for enhancing the vaccination rate, in order to avoid unbearable pressure on the country's hospitals.
She also unveiled a series of stringent anti-epidemic measures due to the recent surge of Covid-19 cases, Xinhua news agency reported.
Religious venues and hair salons will be closed from February 10, and the current social distancing measures will be extended until February 24.
The vaccine pass scheme will be effective from February 24, where unvaccinated people will be banned from entering a list of venues specified in the Prevention and Control of Disease (Requirements and Directions) (Business and Premises) Regulation. This list will be expanded to include shopping malls, wet markets and other markets, supermarkets, department stores, religious venues and hair salons.
The HKSAR government will also ban cross-family gatherings in private premises involving more than two households.
Close and secondary contacts of Covid-19 patients are subjected to home quarantine starting from Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong on Tuesday reported 625 new cases of Covid-19 over the past 24 hours, taking the total tally of infections to 16,647, according to data from the Center for Health Protection.
The newly reported cases consist of four imported cases and 621 locally acquired cases, the center said.
Since the start of a mass inoculation program in February 2021, nearly 5.44 million people, or 80.8 per cent of the eligible population in Hong Kong, have taken at least one shot of Covid-19 vaccines, while more than 4.9 million, or 72.8 per cent of the eligible population, have taken two vaccine doses.
Meanwhile, more than 1.09 million people in Hong Kong have taken their third booster shots.