“I have no further details to announce regarding the implementation of vaccine passports at this stage, but the government will not totally give up on this measure,” Lam told reporters.

“If we come to a stage where we need to boost the vaccination rate to better protect our citizens, especially the elderly, and the border reopening arrangement, which is not easy to secure, we will need to consider that. But we have not come to that stage yet.”

The Post learned on Tuesday that the vaccine passport scheme, if implemented, would apply to venues such as restaurants, bars and pubs, bathhouses, party rooms, nightclubs, karaoke lounges and mahjong-tin kau parlours.

It would also cover cruise ships, hotel and guest houses, gyms, beauty parlours and massage establishments, amusement centres, public entertainment venues, clubhouses, sports premises, swimming pools and event premises.

On Monday, the Post reported that a scheme requiring at least two-thirds of diners in a restaurant to have received at least one shot could be introduced as early as next month.

Restaurants fear 20 per cent revenue hit under Hong Kong vaccine passport scheme

Opponents of the vaccine passport concept say the idea is unfair, while some warn the policy for restaurants could hammer revenues by as much as 20 per cent.

On Friday, the government’s risk-exposure “Leave Home Safe” app will be updated to its 3.0 version, allowing users to register for Hong Kong’s new health code, a requirement for quarantine-free travel to Guangdong province and Macau.

“If you don’t have urgent reasons to cross the border, there is no need to rush to open registration for the Hong Kong health code on December 10,” Lam said, noting it was impossible to confirm a slot when the quota system had yet to be announced.

Once the health code and quota system were up and running, Lam said Hong Kong would need to consider the possibility of reopening more land borders depending on demand.

What do we know about the new coronavirus variant, and should Hong Kong be worried?

All but three of the city’s border crossings have been closed for more than 21 months since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. Only the airport and the land borders at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge and the Shenzhen Bay Control Point have remained open.

Lam stressed that authorities would focus on reopening land borders rather than railway or ferry transport to the mainland.

Hong Kong has kept Covid-19 infections and deaths to a minimum, but imposes some of the world’s tightest inbound travel restrictions to align itself with mainland China’s zero-Covid approach.

Officials on Tuesday confirmed five new coronavirus infections, all of which were imported, taking the overall tally to 12,471 cases, with 213 related deaths.

The cases involved arrivals from the United States, Switzerland, Pakistan, Nepal and Spain, and four of the five carried the L452R mutant strain. Fewer than five preliminary-positive cases were logged.

The government further added Argentina, Croatia, Fiji and Latvia to its Group A list of high-risk places, meaning non-residents from these jurisdictions will be barred from entering the city, and returning Hongkongers have to undergo 21 days of quarantine, with the latest changes to kick in on Friday.

From Thursday, use of the official “Leave Home Safe” Covid-19 risk-exposure app will be mandatory at restaurants and entertainment venues. Compulsory use of the mobile app at government premises such as public libraries and administrative buildings started last month.

The government clarified on Monday night that exemptions would be granted to those aged 15 and below or 65 and above, and to groups such as the homeless. The option of visitors writing down on paper their name, contact details, and date and time of arrival on the premises would still be allowed.

Hong Kong set to require two-thirds of diners to have had Covid-19 jab

The Society for Community Organisation, which helps street sleepers, has not made a tally of how many homeless people are vaccinated, according to deputy director Sze Lai-shan.

“Some homeless people who work as cleaning staff or building security usually are already vaccinated,” she said.

“As long as there are exemptions for underprivileged people, who need to access government buildings for things like aid applications or shelter, there will not be outright discrimination. But it will bring inconvenience.”

Meanwhile, Diane Wong Shuk-han, deputy director at the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, said authorities were exploring whether NGOs could issue a certificate to homeless people who did not have a smartphone to use the app.

“The government has been in discussions with groups that provide services to them, and we will finalise the arrangements soon,” Wong told a radio programme, adding the document from the NGOs could be shown when the homeless person entered various premises.

Critics opposed to making the contact-tracing app mandatory feared it would discriminate against people who did not own a smartphone, while catering venues and other premises worried they would have to turn away customers.

According to government statistics, 92.1 per cent of Hongkongers aged 10 and above – or nearly 6 million people – owned a smartphone as of 2020. But only 68.1 per cent of those aged 65 and above owned one.

Asked whether frontline workers at various venues had a responsibility to verify personal details provided on handwritten forms, Wong said law enforcement officers could require patrons to prove they provided real contact numbers during random inspections.

In a separate development, Medtimes Molecular Laboratory has been temporarily removed from the city’s list of recognised Covid-19 testing providers, as its kits may produce a false negative result for patients infected with the Omicron variant.

However, the Department of Health said the impact on the city’s testing capacity would be minimal, given the company did not provide services at the airport or quarantine facilities, and so far, no Omicron cases had been detected in the community.

Omicron vs Delta: battle of coronavirus mutants is critical

Meanwhile, local medical experts said updated World Health Organization guidelines advising against the use of convalescent plasma on Covid-19 patients would have little effect on Hong Kong.

The Hospital Authority last year had hailed the treatment – derived from recovered Covid-19 patients’ blood plasma – as “a trump card” against the virus. But in its updated guidelines, the WHO said the treatment was ineffective, and “costly and time-consuming” to boot.

However, Professor Ivan Hung Fan-ngai, of the University of Hong Kong, said that the city “already surpassed the era of using convalescent plasma”, noting that now, “there are better treatments available commercially”.

The Hospital Authority said the plasma therapy had only been used on 126 patients in Hong Kong, and not since the end of January.