Hong Kong wants to stick to its zero-Covid strategy until extra individuals are vaccinated, a government advisor advised CNBC on Wednesday.
“If 95% of our eligible population are being vaccinated fully with three doses, then the chance is that we are able to open our border,” mentioned Yuen Kwok-yung, who’s a part of Hong Kong’s professional advisory panel for Covid-19.
The Chinese metropolis is much from reaching that focus on. Only 68.6% of the whole inhabitants has acquired two doses of a vaccine as of Wednesday, according to government data. Some 322,781 individuals, or round 4.4% of the inhabitants, have acquired their third shot.
One manner to improve vaccination rates can be to require a vaccine passport to go about each day life, mentioned Yuen, who can also be head of the division of microbiology on the University of Hong Kong.
“Perhaps that is [the] only way, like Israel, to ensure that a high vaccination rate will be achieved,” he mentioned. Fully vaccinated individuals in Israel are issued a “green pass” that allows them to enter indoor venues such as restaurants, gyms and cinemas.
Zero-Covid strategy
For now, Hong Kong can’t swap methods, Yuen advised CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”
“At this stage in time, it’s the same. We must continue with our present near-zero policy,” he mentioned.
Hong Kong requires individuals coming into the town to quarantine for up to 21 days and take multiple Covid-19 tests, measures Yuen mentioned are obligatory to management the supply of infections.
But the town’s zero-Covid strategy can also be the main frustration for foreign businesses operating there, an analyst told CNBC on Tuesday.
Yuen mentioned, nonetheless, the town does not intend to preserve zero-Covid in place indefinitely, simply until it reaches “sufficient” vaccination rates.
“It’s impossible to maintain it for more than three years,” he added. “I think that for the coming years, the government has to set a deadline when everybody have to have a vaccine pass … to go around.”
Vaccination is required for some activities in Hong Kong, however the limits on unvaccinated individuals are rather more relaxed than in locations similar to Israel and Singapore.
Hong Kong has reported 12,548 confirmed Covid instances for the reason that starting of the pandemic, together with 34 instances of the omicron variant, according to government data as of Wednesday.
— CNBC’s Weizhen Tan contributed to this report.
