Hong Kong health minister voices concerns as families with young children travel overseas following Covid policy rollback
- Health minister Lo Chung-mau warns of ‘serious health consequences’ if children catch coronavirus while on holiday overseas
- Aligned jab rules would ‘certainly’ help reduce case spike after mainland Chinese border fully reopens, but could reduce visitor traffic, he adds
Hong Kong’s health minister has voiced concerns over parents taking their children to overseas destinations where mask mandates are not in place, as many residents have taken advantage of eased Covid-19 curbs to head abroad for the first time in almost three years.
The number of local coronavirus cases was also likely to rise once the city reopened its border with mainland China, Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau also told a radio programme on Saturday as the city almost reached the 30,000 mark in its daily new infections.
While agreeing that a vaccination requirement for all inbound travellers would “certainly” be beneficial, Lo stopped short of saying whether the government planned to extend the existing measure for international arrivals to those from the mainland.
Under the city’s current rules, inbound travellers from overseas must generally be double-jabbed against Covid-19 before coming to Hong Kong. Arrivals from the mainland are not required to be fully inoculated.
During the Christmas holidays, many Hongkongers flocked to the airport for their first overseas holiday since the pandemic began in early 2020. According to government figures, more than 150,000 residents flew out from the city between December 19 and 25.