Monitoring Desk
HONG KONG: Hong Kong would stop requiring masks to be worn in public areas from Wednesday, drawing to a close the prolonged Covid-19 era that havoc on its economy and standing worldwide.
At a press briefing on Tuesday, Hong Kong leader John Lee said that masks would no longer be needed outdoors, indoors, and on public transport.
The move comes as the Hong Kong government seeks to attract tourists and overseas employees to revitalize the finance hub. Next month, Hong Kong would host the most significant series of global events since often-violent protests in the year 2019 shut down much of the city, including the music festival, Art Basel, and the Rugby Sevens tournament. Hong Kong dropped most other pandemic restrictions by earlier this year.
“Time is ripe to end mask mandate”
Lee said that “time is ripe for mask mandate to be scrapped,”. Hong Kong is one of the last places on Earth to instruct mask-wearing. At one stage, covid masks were required even when exercising. The rule increasingly jarred with Hong Kong’s government push to move beyond a pandemic and lure visitors. As part of its Hello Hong Kong campaign, a city is giving away more than half a million airline tickets starting on Wednesday.
Tourism numbers remain low. In January 2023, passenger volumes at a Norman Foster-designed airport were a third of the level 4 years earlier and that compares with 77 percent for Singapore.
The last three years of world isolation weighed heavily on Hong Kong’s economy and reputation. The Hong Kong economy shrank the 3.5 percent in the year 2022, contracting for the third time in four years. The population has fallen by 187,000 in the three years through the year 2022 as residents fled for other cities.
