Hong Kong residents will need to have a minimum of one coronavirus vaccine shot to enter eating places starting late subsequent month, Carrie Lam, the town’s chief government, mentioned on Tuesday, as the town races to stamp out the unfold of the Omicron variant.
The brand new necessities, which had been to start this month, will as a substitute begin on Feb. 24, after Lunar New 12 months celebrations have ended, to present companies and residents time to organize, Mrs. Lam mentioned. She added that the rule may very well be expanded to incorporate different public areas, corresponding to museums and libraries.
The town has maintained strict controls to forestall the unfold of the coronavirus, requiring using a contact-tracing app in public locations, forcing arrivals from abroad to bear as a lot as three weeks of quarantine, locking down high-rise buildings and ordering mass testing of residents to stamp out the specter of native unfold of Omicron.
However Hong Kong’s vaccine drive has been set again by residents who’re suspicious of the federal government and its unpopular chief. The town has absolutely vaccinated solely about 69 p.c of its inhabitants, in accordance with the federal government.
The town introduced the toughened necessities as officers had been trying to find six diners at a restaurant linked to an Omicron cluster affecting greater than 300 individuals.
The six had been amongst those that had lunch on the Moon Palace restaurant within the upscale Vogue Stroll mall within the Kowloon Tong district on Dec. 27, officers mentioned. The others had been despatched to a authorities facility to quarantine.
Well being officers say they consider {that a} flight attendant for Cathay Pacific Airways who had ignored isolation guidelines after getting back from america contaminated his father and one other particular person whereas eating at Moon Palace that day. The airline mentioned it had fired the unnamed flight attendant and one different Cathay worker because of the outbreak.
Hong Kong recorded 13 new coronavirus circumstances on Tuesday. To this point, six Omicron circumstances have been related to the restaurant; the town has recorded 102 circumstances of the variant in complete.
Mrs. Lam’s authorities has made resumption of regular journey with mainland China a precedence, and she or he mentioned on Tuesday that the Omicron circumstances would most definitely delay plans to ease journey restrictions between Hong Kong and the mainland.
“I’d not deny that that has an influence, which implies that we must wait one other whereas earlier than we may put in place the very sought-after resumption of regular journey between Hong Kong and the mainland,” she mentioned.
In different information from across the globe:
-
A minimum of 2,000 passengers had been caught on a cruise ship between the coastal states of Maharashtra and Goa in India after greater than 60 individuals onboard had examined constructive for the coronavirus. The contaminated passengers had refused to be quarantined in Goa, native information media reported. And as of Tuesday morning, the ship had been despatched again to Mumbai, the place it originated. The ship has been caught between two states the place virus circumstances have spiked after crowded New 12 months’s celebrations and as a 3rd wave, aided by the Omicron variant, appeared set to unfold quickly all through the nation. India’s Well being Ministry reported 37,379 new infections on Tuesday, one of many highest every day totals since September.
-
In South Korea, greater than 1,000 individuals, together with some medical doctors, have filed a lawsuit towards the federal government calling for vaccine passes to be abolished, claiming discrimination and extreme infringement on their primary rights. The vaccine passes, launched in December, enable those that are absolutely vaccinated towards the coronavirus or bought a adverse take a look at consequence inside 24 hours to enter many public venues. The passes have confronted criticism in lots of quarters, together with from pregnant ladies, of whom greater than 90 p.c usually are not vaccinated towards the virus, in accordance with authorities knowledge. Scientists say a rising physique of proof exhibits the vaccines are secure and efficient throughout being pregnant.
-
China ordered the almost 1.2 million residents of the town of Yuzhou in Henan Province to remain residence after three asymptomatic circumstances of the virus had been found in latest days. The lockdown of 13 million residents in Xi’an, in northwestern China, is getting into its second week.
John Yoon and Karan Singh contributed reporting.