Coronavirus Hong Kong: developers, mall operators seek answers on how to enforce vaccine pass scheme for unjabbed residents
- Critics say new measures are ‘taking aim at the wrong target’ and could make residents’ lives more difficult
- Some shopping centres serve as the only exits or passageways to housing estates and bus stops; mall operators say they will seek clarification from government
Hong Kong’s developers and operators of major shopping centres have been left baffled by how the government’s new vaccine pass scheme can be enforced without denying access to unjabbed residents passing through such premises on their way to work or home.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said on Tuesday a vaccine pass scheme would be launched on February 24. The system, which requires visitors at various venues to show proof of inoculation, will cover malls, department stores, supermarkets, wet markets and eateries.
Cross-family gatherings involving more than two households will also be banned from Thursday.
Exemptions will be available in certain instances such as entering a shopping centre just to buy takeaway or retrieve belongings, to get tested or vaccinated, to attend government, legal or medical appointments, or to return home or get to work. But mall workers will not be exempted.