However, health experts have reminded the public that the coronavirus has not disappeared and recommend that people wear masks in hospitals, crowded places or on public transport.

So 8.6 billion face coverings later, here is how the first morning without a mask mandate in almost three years went in Hong Kong.

Reporting by Willa Wu, Oscar Liu, Rachel Yeo and Kahon Chan

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No masks required for restaurant buffet

Restaurant Cafe Marco at the Harbour City shopping centre in Tsim Sha Tsui did not require diners to wear masks on entering the premises for its lunch buffet.

“Customers do not need to wear a mask to have meals here starting today. They can leave their seats when they go out to get their food,” said a waiter who asked not to be named. “But our staff members will keep their masks on when serving our guests.”

Travellers unaware mask mandate scrapped

Mainland Chinese traveller Wang Yu, 50, arrived in the city from Zhongshan with her family members for a one-day tour and said she did not realise the mask mandate had been lifted.

“We thought people are still required to wear a mask in public. I told my husband to take a quick picture without one on and put our masks back on quickly because we were afraid of being fined,” Wang laughed.

“Travelling to Hong Kong without quarantine is attractive enough. It’s even nicer that masks are no longer a must,” said the first-time visitor to the city, who also planned to go to Golden Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai to take pictures.

‘Children need time to get used to not wearing masks’

Principal Vivien So Wai-ling of Creative Kindergarten and Day Nursery in Kowloon Tong said the school respected the choice of both parents and students on mask-wearing.

“Some children who have worn masks for a long time may need more time to get used to not wearing them, since it’s been three years,” she said.

Teacher Helen Luk, who was supervising a K3 class without a mask, said children could now see her expressions better during lessons.

“It was previously more difficult to see whether children were participating in lessons, like whether they were reciting sentences or singing along,” she said.

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Enjoying the sea breeze

Most commuters travelling from Central to Tsim Sha Tsui on the Star Ferry took off their face coverings and enjoyed the breeze, with some taking selfies to celebrate the moment.

Alan Smith, 70, an American who has been in the city for 30 years, said he was ecstatic to finally be able to remove his mask and put the pandemic drama behind.

“Sometimes you just need to follow the rules. I’m happy that we no longer need to wear a mask in public,” said the owner of an employment agency.

“I hope Hong Kong can return to normal, especially for the business sector.”

Spot the difference

What a difference a day makes – or maybe not. The first picture show commuters in Central station on Tuesday, the final day of the city’s mask mandate.

The second photo shows people heading to work on Wednesday. Clearly few seem ready to ditch their masks yet.

Maskless classrooms good for pupils: government adviser

Government pandemic adviser Professor Ivan Hung Fan-ngai from the University of Hong Kong said pupils “really need to take their masks off” because it would benefit their language learning and natural immunity.

Students needed to see teachers’ lips for proper language learning, he explained, and a relatively low level of respiratory viral spread among schoolchildren would help replenish their immunity defences.

He said experts were expecting an inevitable uptick of respiratory diseases on school campuses following the end of the mask mandate, but it should not be a cause of concern.

“If schoolchildren keep wearing masks and stay out of infection, it will only postpone the so-called outbreak,” Hung told a radio programme.

Most elderly residents masked at activity centre

A long queue was spotted outside the Tsim Sha Tsui District Kaifong Welfare Association Neighborhood Elderly Activities Centre in Jordan in the morning. Nearly all of the elderly residents were wearing masks.

Some community centres, which had been used as vaccination venues, resumed normal operations and organised daily activities for neighbourhood residents.

An employee in charge of registration at the Jordan centre said the elderly were not required to wear masks, but they were highly recommended to do so as the premises were at times packed.

‘A new beginning for Hong Kong’

On its Tamar Talk Facebook account, the government has extended its gratitude to all residents for their patience and persistence over the past three years.

The post, which contains two graphics, noted that the lifting of the mask mandate marked not only the end of all social-distancing measures, but also a new beginning for Hong Kong.

“A big thanks to all 7 million Hong Kong people who have cooperated with the government in the past three years. Salute to you!” the post said.

The graphics also showed how Hong Kong’s social-distancing measures were gradually scrapped from last December to March 1.

“We’ve stayed beside each other for three years and we made it to the end,” the post said.

Smiles better after 959 days

Chat groups on social media platforms, including WhatsApp and Facebook, were buzzing with encouraging messages on not being judgmental towards those who chose to keep or take off their masks.

One social media user, Maaike Steinebach, a former financial services and tech chief executive, even made stickers to share with her groups, urging everyone to take things easy and be happy about the change.

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“While it is everyone’s free choice, it’s sad kids have not seen each other’s smiles for years. My youngest son is 15, so he knows what maskless life is like, but many small kids have not experienced a proper smile,” said the Dutch mother of three teenagers who has lived in Hong Kong for 13 years.

The tech and female empowerment consultant produced the stickers in the morning and shared them with her groups.

After 959 days with masks, “it is indeed a big change and will take time for people to wean off. But some kids will see a smile at school for the first time in three years today. Let’s show our smiles to others again”, she told her groups.

‘I don’t feel safe taking off my mask’

At an outlet of Men Wah Bing Teng restaurant chain near Diamond Hill MTR station, all staff wore masks, including the cashier and those working outside the kitchen.

The cashier, surnamed Fung and in her late 50s, said it was company policy for all staff to wear masks. They were told it because they needed to serve a great number of diners every day.

“The company did not mention how long the policy will be in effect. But to be honest, I don’t feel safe taking off my mask. Just look at the street outside, many are still wearing masks,” Fung said.

At a nearby 7-Eleven convenience store, an employee named Wan said staff were not required to wear masks. But she and her colleague were used to wearing them now.

“Masks have become part of my life. So it feels awkward not to have them on,” Wan said.

‘Decide for yourself whether to wear a mask’

So Kong-shing, 63 a business owner who operates a newspaper kiosk outside Admiralty station, took off his mask and greeted his customers.

“The best thing the government could do was to let us decide whether to wear or not to wear a mask. I’ve pulled my mask down for now but I’ll be wearing it when I go back to my eatery,” said So, who also owns Mak’s Noodle Restaurant in Central.

“I asked my 10 employees at the restaurant to wear a mask during work so customers can feel more safe to dine in. After all, hygiene matters in the catering business.”

‘Bye mask! My skin said thank you’

Beauty consultant April Chung Yin-yi, 26, woke up 45 minutes early this morning to do her make-up on her way from Kowloon Tong to Tsim Sha Tsui.

“Although I’ll still be wearing a mask when I’m giving treatments to my clients, at least just let me feel beautiful in the morning for a brief moment,” she said.

The beauty consultant said she was excited the mandate had finally been scrapped as her skin condition had deteriorated with a mask.

“Bye mask! My skin said thank you,” Chung added.

Masks to be optional for some restaurant staff

Simon Wong Kit-lung, chairman of catering company LH Group, said most restaurateurs he had spoken to planned to make masks optional for employees.

Food-handling workers, he added, would still be required to put on plastic shields intended for hygiene, but not surgical masks.

He said the end of the mandate would also boost the city’s appeal to visitors as the sight of mask-wearing residents on the street would do a disservice to the city’s promotional efforts.

“When tourists see photos of Hong Kong that still depict streets packed with mask-wearing residents, they’d wonder if other restrictions are still in place,” Wong said. “But from today on we can promote ourselves more easily.”

‘90 per cent of pupils still put on masks’

Polly Chan Shuk-yee, vice-chairwoman of the Aided Primary School Heads Association, noted that 90 per cent of pupils at her school had kept their masks on despite the option to remove them.

“We are having exams in the next few days. This might be an important reason they are still wearing masks as parents don’t want the students to get sick during the exams,” she said.

Chan said she feared that after three years of mask-wearing, some students in their teens might feel pressure showing their faces to their classmates all day. She has advised teachers to keep an eye on the emotions of students.

Few children without masks

Most children spotted around Causeway Bay with their carers still had masks on.

But an exception was 44-year-old domestic helper Chris Simon, who was taking a boy to kindergarten. “Everybody is looking at us, because they are still wearing masks … and there are still tensions,” she said.

Simon said the little boy never enjoyed wearing them and it was finally an opportunity for him to go mask-free. “Before that we always [made him] wear masks when it’s crowded, but now we just forget it.”

Workers get to choose at sandwich chain

At a Pret a Manger branch at Causeway Bay MTR station, employees said the international sandwich franchise chain no longer required staff to wear a mask.

Employee Caroline Fronza, 36, took the opportunity to come to work without a mask, and said she believed that not wearing one showed more sincerity to customers.

“It’s better you can talk clearly, and they can talk clearly to you and see the smiles on your face,” Brazilian Fronza said.

But her colleague, 22-year-old Josua Repollo, preferred to keep a mask on.

“I’m not comfortable showing my face. Before when I wasn’t wearing masks, I always wore make-up. But if I remove my mask I’ll have to wear make-up and wake up so early,” she said.

Expert calls for vaccination amid flu concerns

Respiratory medicine expert Dr Leung Chi-chiu warned that influenza might take root in Hong Kong following the lifting of the mask mandate, especially among children.

Leung told a radio show that young children could become vulnerable in a potential flu outbreak because they had not been able to establish immunity through natural exposure in the past three years when the mask mandate had been in place.

Whether Hong Kong would see a flu outbreak in March would depend on how warm the weather got and residents’ mask-wearing habits, Leung said, urging parents to get children aged six year or under vaccinated against seasonal flu.

He also advised residents to keep wearing masks when they were around young children and other high-risk individuals, such as the elderly.

Smiles in the street once again: Hong Kong scraps mask rule after nearly 3 years

Relief for truck driver

Most passengers at Causeway Bay MTR station are still wearing masks, with some putting them on the moment they enter the location.

However, dozens are also seen unmasked as they enter the station during morning rush hour. Truck driver Yim Kim-fung, 52, was heading to work at a construction site in Hung Hom without a mask.

“I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time. It was excruciating to have a mask on all the time with sweat all over my face and the mask strings stretched and hurting the back of my ears,” Yim said.

“I took off my mask whenever I was driving. It feels like the drama is over as I don’t have to act by putting my mask on and off when I go in and out the construction site.”

He added: “I’m relieved because as a healthy person, the mask caused me to suffer from nasal allergy. The sneezing and running nose uncontrollably were no joke.”

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Student wary about going maskless

At Tai Wai station, a busy interchange for the MTR’s East Rail and Tuen Ma lines, most passengers, especially students, were still wearing masks before 8am.

Secondary school student Charmaine Yung Ching-yee, 15, had decided to keep a mask on for a month although her school did not require her to do so.

“It doesn’t make a difference to me even if the mask mandate is over. There are still people catching the coronavirus. I didn’t catch it in the past three years and I don’t want to get it now because I take my mask off,” Yung said.

“I’ll observe the situation and see if my classmates do the same.”

‘Nervous about taking off mask’

Most pupils heading to school in Tsz Wan Shan were still wearing masks, the Post observed.

Kyla Wong, six, took out her mask when she was about to enter PLK Grandmont Primary School. Her father Bryant Wong, however, was not wearing one.

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He said Kyla counted the number of people wearing a mask on the bus. “I know she was nervous about taking off her mask. So I told her it is all right to put it on,” he said.

Asked if she preferred wearing a mask, the six-year-old nodded her head. “I feel secure,” said Kyla, who had no plan about going mask-free.

Guidelines for schools updated

Staff, students and visitors on school campuses are not required to wear masks under Education Bureau guidelines updated on Monday. But staff and students with respiratory symptoms are advised to wear one or take sick leave and seek medical advice as early as possible.

For dormitories at special needs schools, which are at higher risk of infection, staff and students can wear a mask or a face shield when necessary. Parents can also ask their children to keep masks on in school if deemed necessary.

Unmasking after midnight

When the mask mandate was lifted after midnight, some passengers in MTR stations and on trains were seen without masks. But the proportion of those wearing masks was still larger than those who were not.