Businesses posted a QR code at their entrances for people to
scan with a smartphone app to check their vaccine status before entering.
Everyone aged 12 and over must have at least one dose of a
COVID-19 vaccine to enter these places. Beginning April 30, those aged 18 and
above will be required to have two doses. Booster shots will be required for
some starting June 30.
Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese city, is struggling to
impose a zero-COVID strategy patterned on the tough measures mainland China has
implemented to keep the virus at bay. A sharp rise in cases driven by the
omicron variant has left the city short of the hospital beds and isolation
rooms needed for a zero-COVID approach.
Mainland experts have been brought in to help put up
temporary testing facilities and new isolation wards to handle a mass testing
of the entire population of 7.4 million people next month, similar to what
China does in cities hit with even relatively small outbreaks. The city of
Hohhot in China’s Inner Mongolia region launched a sixth round of citywide
testing Thursday in an outbreak with 277 confirmed cases.
In Hong Kong, the Health Department reported 8,798 new cases
of people testing positive in the latest 24-hour period, the highest daily
total since the start of the pandemic.
The ongoing outbreak, along with the new requirement to be
vaccinated to enter certain premises, has driven more people to get a shot. About
5.9 million people, or 87% of the population 12 years old and older, have
gotten at least one dose, according to the government.
Nearly 45,000 people received their first dose of vaccine in
the 24 hours through 8 p.m. Wednesday, and more than 43,000 got either their
second or third dose, the city government said.
The vaccine requirement also applies to fresh food markets,
gaming centers, gyms, beauty parlors and barbershops, swimming pools,
department stores and nightclubs. Exceptions are made for people making a
delivery or picking up an item, including takeout food.
King Woo, who was waiting for takeout outside a restaurant,
said that people should have the freedom to choose whether to use the vaccine
pass.
“Even if I’m not vaccinated, I should have the right to
dine-in,” he said. “Therefore, in the current situation, I’d rather get
takeaway.”
At restaurants, an employee is required to check each
customer’s vaccine status and scan it with their smartphone. At many other
places, including shopping malls, there is no required check. The government
said that police may conduct spot checks.
Link, an operator of 75 shopping centers and 52 fresh food
markets, said it had set up the QR codes at the entrances and passageways to
car parks and housing complexes, and reminded workers that they need to be
vaccinated, too.
“Our team has been working hard to provide the safest
possible environment for our tenants and the public,” George Hongchoy, the CEO
of Link, said in a news release. -AP
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