HONG KONG - In about seven weeks, unvaccinated Hong Kong residents will be barred from more places including libraries, museums and schools, as officials 
seek to keep local Covid-19 cases at zero and reopen its borders with China.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Tuesday (Jan 4) announced that the government will expand the “vaccine bubble” from Feb 24 to cover more places and residents must have at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to enter the premises.

The bubble was rolled out about six months ago to the food and beverage (F&B) industry, as well as places deemed high risk such as bars and pubs, clubhouses and karaoke lounges.

“At the moment, there is no plan to extend the application to shopping malls or private work places because the implications will be far-reaching,” Mrs Lam said.

But she did not rule out the possibility of doing so, saying it depends on the situation.

Mrs Lam added that details of the vaccine bubble are still being ironed out.

For instance, schools will be part of the bubble but talks are still ongoing to see if they should make vaccination mandatory for everyone or just for staff.

“In order for Hong Kong to battle the pandemic and for people’s lives to return to normal and to create favourable conditions for border reopening, we must boost our vaccination rate,” said Mrs Lam.

She said the bubble plan will be implemented in phases, with staff at government buildings and schools first to be required to get jabbed.

The city’s vaccination rate spiked on Monday, with almost 18,000 receiving their first dose, compared with the 1,000 to 2,000 jabs administered daily previously.

So far, 73 per cent of the eligible population have had one jab.

The spike in daily numbers came after Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan said last Friday that the bubble was to be expanded to cover cinemas, gyms and beauty centres before Chinese New Year on Feb 1.

Local reports said F&B representatives had met with officials on Monday afternoon and had urged them to implement the plan only after the festivities, so that the industry will not lose 20 to 30 per cent of business.

Hong Kong officials are trying to maintain the city’s zero local cases record and reopen borders with the mainland, amid fears of a possible Omicron outbreak.

On Tuesday, Mrs Lam admitted that the recent Omicron cluster linked to an imported case had put a dent in long-awaited plans to reopen borders with the mainland.

“I will not deny that that has an impact, which means that we will have to wait another while before we can put in place this very sought-after resumption of normal travel between Hong Kong and the mainland,” she said.

She said she had reprimanded the chairman and chief executive officer of Cathay Pacific after one aircrew member was found to have spread the Omicron variant to his father and a diner at a Kowloon Tong restaurant.

Previously, Prof Chan said some aircrew had breached the airline’s three-day isolation rule.

But Mrs Lam said on Tuesday that the situation is manageable and there are no plans to tighten social distancing rules or to suspend classes.

So far, Hong Kong has recorded more than 12,600 cases of Covid-19 and 213 deaths - numbers that are among the lowest in the world.