Senior health official reaffirms commitment to disease suppression tactics, while travel bans and lockdowns take effect in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

China reports 87 new local cases and 147 imported cases, including 53 imported cases in Guangdong.

Banks, insurance firms, wealth management firms and stockbrokers have been spared from the city’s draconian social-distancing and shutdown rules, but financial firms said they are not taking any chances.

Ricky Chiu Yin-to, who founded Phase Scientific International in 2015 while pursuing a PhD in the US, says he owes the company’s success to its US roots and experience in developing rapid tests.

About 94 per cent of people with a third dose had detectable levels of antibodies, Sinovac says, after HKU study finds none in 25 people on two-dose regimen.

International asset managers and banks urge Financial Secretary Paul Chan to provide a road map of how the city plans to resume normal operations like other financial centres.

Outgoing Japanese Consul General Mitsuhiro Wada called for an easing of border restrictions in the Greater Bay Area and said Tokyo’s stance is that Hong Kong ‘develops in a democratic and stable manner’.

The list of those exempted from hotel quarantine has thrown up alarming loopholes

Current streak of 41 days without local infections a record, with three cases recently reclassified.

Authorities are looking at allowing Hong Kong residents, and those with the right to work in the city, to return from countries classified as the highest risk for Covid-19, says consul general.

Hong Kong reported no local infections of the Covid-19 last Friday, the 28th consecutive day of zero new cases that prompted the government’s pandemic adviser Professor Yuen Kwok-yung to declare the end of the city’s so-called fourth wave of outbreaks.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam says policy was adjusted only when it became apparent how many ‘Return2HK’ travellers were losing quarantine exemptions.

Give those vaccinated bracelets that allow them to move about maskless and enjoy greater privileges in dining and entertainment. More bracelets seen on the healthy would also overcome fears about side effects and put social pressure on the unvaccinated.

Rather than rope in celebrities, the authorities should focus on clearing doubts and alleviating worries about the vaccines, and on strictly controlling the border.

The government must solve inter-departmental coordination problems as these will increasingly rile the public.

The authorities should distinguish between those living in the same house as a confirmed case and second-level contacts, allowing the vaccinated among the latter to quarantine at home.

Government adviser reveals plan to tap star power, while health expert names 22-year-old singer as potential candidate.

Domestic helpers should be shown respect and gratitude for their service to the community, rather than be treated as the source of our problems.

Let vaccinated Hongkongers serve out their quarantine at home, rather than exposing them to the risk of new Covid-19 variants

Operators say they are struggling with ‘hastily distributed’ information from authorities and a rushed Covid-19 vaccination app.

Temporary workers may be able to access the sensitive personal information of citizens. Hopefully, this will not set a precedent, such as for Legco elections.

Domestic helper recently arrived from Philippines found infected with virus bearing N501Y mutation.