Yahoo Finance Hong Kong rolls out COVID vaccine passports
STORY: Hong Kong rolled out vaccine passports on Thursday (February 24), requiring people aged 12 and above to have at least one COVID-19 jab, and paved the way for mainland China to help bring a worsening outbreak under control.
Hong Kong has registered over 400 deaths since the pandemic first started over two years ago, fewer than other similar major cities.
Now residents are mandated to show their vaccine record to access venues including supermarkets, shopping malls and restaurants, a major inconvenience in a city where malls link train stations to residences and office buildings.
Kali Nai is an office worker in Hong Kong:
"I think at this moment it's useless. There is a preliminary positive case in the building where I work. I don't know if it will become a confirmed case, but if you look at the current COVID-19 outbreak trend, even if you scan the vaccine pass's QR code, it does seem to be helping the current COVID situation.”
Eric Mariacher, a French national living in the city, accepts the vaccine pass.
“I mean, what bothers me is more the zero-COVID policy that I don’t (agree with). I think we should live with the COVID, and actually that's what happening in Hong Kong now with many people being confined at home and not in the Penny('s) Bay (location of government's quarantine facility). So, for me vaccine pass is okay.”
The government also tightened restrictions from Thursday, in a city that already has some of the most stringent rules in the world.
Residents will have to wear masks for all outdoor exercise and will not be allowed to remove them to eat or drink on public transport.
Bars, gyms and other businesses remain closed and shopping malls deserted while many residents work from home.
The government said on Tuesday schools would break early for summer and resume the new year in August.
With the city's testing, treatment and isolation capacity already stretched to the maximum, University of Hong Kong researchers predicted new infections could peak at 180,000 a day next month.
