Hong Kong’s government has officially abolished the mandatory face-mask requirement that has been kept in place for over 900 days in order to halt the further spread of the Coronavirus and its new variants.
Such an announcement was confirmed by the region’s Special Administrative chief executive John Lee, VisaGuide.World reports.
“I have always told people that I will be monitoring the situation of Hong Kong in regard to the total number of infected cases, the overall trend, and the different data that indicate the situation of Covid in Hong Kong,” Lee pointed out.
He considered that after taking into account the data, the current trend, and the fact that the winter surge is nearing the end, and also to give people a clear message that the country is resuming to normalcy, it is the right time to take such a decision.
Authorities in Hong Kong kept in place the mandatory face mask requirement on public transport since July 15, 2020, while it was further expanded two weeks later in order to include indoor as well as outdoor areas. In addition, those who didn’t follow such rules were subject to more than $1,000 fines in all public spaces.
Still, by that time the majority of people in this city started to wear face masks months earlier, following the increase in the number of COVID-19 infections.
However, at present, authorities in Hong Kong have estimated that the epidemiological situation has improved thus abolishing such a requirement.
Lee has stressed that Hong Kong’s government has been closely monitoring when to lit the compulsory face mask requirement for nearly two months.
The decision will further help Hong Kong recover from the situation caused by the spread of the Coronavirus and its new variants.
According to Lee, the abolishment of the mask mandate “will be very beneficial to economic development, our international competitiveness as well as our activities which involve everyone in Hong Kong.”
Even though authorities in Hong Kong decided to abolish the compulsory face mask requirement, there are still some other COVID-related measures remaining effective.
Among the measures, students were still required to take daily rapid COVID-19 antigen tests in order to check for COVID despite the fact that last week authorities announced that such rule would be lifted from March 1 in secondary school students as well as primary schools and nurseries from March 15.
Hong Kong government abolished travel bans and other COVID-related restrictions in December 2022, as part of measures to ease the travel process and help the country’s economy recover from financial loss caused by the COVID-19 situation.
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