Hong Kong has required since Thursday to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter shopping malls and restaurants, among other establishments, as it struggles to contain an outbreak of coronavirus and tries to overcome the reluctance of part of its population to the vaccine.
Businesses placed a QR code at the entrance for customers to scan with their cell phones and check their vaccination status before entering.
Everyone over the age of 12 must have at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to enter these locations. From April 30, those over 18 will have to have received at least two, and the reinforcement will begin to be required of part of the population from June 30.
The semi-autonomous Chinese territory is having trouble enforcing a zero-infection strategy inspired by the strict measures used on the mainland to control the spread of the virus. The latest spike in infections, fueled by the omicron variant, has left city hospitals without the hospital beds and isolation wards needed to follow that model.
Authorities have turned to mainland experts to help set up temporary testing centers and new isolation wards to carry out mass screening of its 7.4 million people next month, similar to what China is doing in cities with relatively rare outbreaks. little ones.
The Hong Kong Department of Health reported on Thursday that 8,798 people had tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours, its worst figure since the start of the pandemic.
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Moritsugu informó des de Beijing.
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