{"id":124311,"date":"2021-12-23T07:11:06","date_gmt":"2021-12-23T07:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=124311"},"modified":"2021-12-23T07:11:06","modified_gmt":"2021-12-23T07:11:06","slug":"hong-kong-should-stick-to-its-zero-covid-strategy-until-vaccination-rates-are-higher-government-advisor-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/business\/hong-kong-should-stick-to-its-zero-covid-strategy-until-vaccination-rates-are-higher-government-advisor-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong should stick to its zero-Covid strategy until vaccination rates are higher, government advisor says"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Hong Kong needs to stick to its zero-Covid strategy until more people are vaccinated, said Yuen Kwok-yung, a member of the city&#x27;s expert advisory panel.<\/li>\n<li>&quot;If 95% of our eligible population are being vaccinated fully with three doses, then the chance is that we are able to open our border,&quot; he said.<\/li>\n<li>Hong Kong is far from reaching that target.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Hong Kong needs to stick to its zero-Covid strategy until more people are vaccinated, a government advisor told CNBC on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;If 95% of our eligible population are being vaccinated fully with three doses, then the chance is that we are able to open our border,&quot; said Yuen Kwok-yung, who is part of Hong Kong&#x27;s expert advisory panel for Covid-19.<\/p>\n<p>The Chinese city is far from reaching that target. Only 68.6% of the total population has received two doses of a vaccine as of Wednesday, according to government data. Some 322,781 people, or around 4.4% of the population, have received their third shot.<\/p>\n<p>One way to increase vaccination rates would be to require a vaccine passport to go about daily life, said Yuen, who is also head of the department of microbiology at the University of Hong Kong.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Perhaps that is [the] only way, like Israel, to ensure that a high vaccination rate will be achieved,&quot; he said. Fully vaccinated people in Israel are issued a &quot;green pass&quot; that allows them to enter indoor venues such as restaurants, gyms and cinemas.<\/p>\n<h2>CNBC Health &amp; Science <\/h2>\n<p>Read CNBC&#x27;s latest global coverage of the Covid pandemic:<\/p>\n<p>WHO says Covid vaccine booster programs will prolong pandemic<\/p>\n<p>New York City weighs new restrictions for Times Square New Year&#x27;s Eve celebration<\/p>\n<p>Some glimmers of hope are emerging on omicron, but experts stress caution<\/p>\n<p>Op-Ed: Omicron sidelines professional sports from the NFL to the English Premier League<\/p>\n<p>Amazon limits how many Covid tests you can buy amid omicron surge<\/p>\n<p>Americans are tired of Covid \u2014 and the official response to omicron has only created more frustration<\/p>\n<p>CDC director says initial Covid shots &#x27;may not be enough&#x27; as omicron rapidly sweeps the nation<\/p>\n<p>As of Tuesday, 62.96% of Israel&#x27;s population has received two doses of the vaccine, according to Our World in Data. While that rate is lower than Hong Kong&#x27;s, nearly 45% of Israel&#x27;s population has received a booster. Authorities in Israel require booster shots six months after the second dose. Those who do not take their third shot lose their fully vaccinated status.<\/p>\n<h2>Zero-Covid strategy<\/h2>\n<p>For now, Hong Kong cannot switch strategies, Yuen told CNBC&#x27;s &quot;Squawk Box Asia.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>&quot;At this stage in time, it&#x27;s the same. We must continue with our present near-zero policy,&quot; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Hong Kong requires people entering the city to quarantine for up to 21 days and take multiple Covid-19 tests, measures Yuen said are necessary to control the source of infections.<\/p>\n<p>But the city&#x27;s zero-Covid approach is also the main frustration for foreign businesses operating there, an analyst told CNBC on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Yuen said, however, the city doesn&#x27;t intend to keep zero-Covid in place indefinitely, just until it reaches &quot;sufficient&quot; vaccination rates.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;It&#x27;s impossible to maintain it for more than three years,&quot; he added. &quot;I think that for the coming years, the government has to set a deadline when everybody have to have a vaccine pass \u2026 to go around.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Vaccination is required for some activities in Hong Kong, but the limits on unvaccinated people are much more relaxed than in places such as Israel and Singapore.<\/p>\n<p>Hong Kong has reported 12,548 confirmed Covid cases since the beginning of the pandemic, including 34 cases of the omicron variant, according to government data as of Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 CNBC&#x27;s Weizhen Tan contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2021\/12\/23\/hong-kong-has-to-keep-zero-covid-policy-for-now-government-advisor.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hong Kong needs to stick to its zero-Covid strategy until more people are vaccinated, said Yuen Kwok-yung, a member of the city&#x27;s expert advisory panel. [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":124310,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Hong Kong should stick to its zero-Covid strategy until vaccination rates are higher, government advisor says - Fin2me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/business\/hong-kong-should-stick-to-its-zero-covid-strategy-until-vaccination-rates-are-higher-government-advisor-says\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hong Kong should stick to its zero-Covid strategy until vaccination rates are higher, government advisor says - Fin2me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hong Kong needs to stick to its zero-Covid strategy until more people are vaccinated, said Yuen Kwok-yung, a member of the city&#x27;s expert advisory panel. 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