HONG KONG – Hong Kong just ended one of the world’s longest mask mandates. Yet that has produced little visible change, with most people wearing masks in the streets and on public transportation on Wednesday.

The rule, which made face coverings mandatory in all public places and imposed a minimum HK$5,000 (S$850) fine for violations, was lifted at midnight, more than two years after it was first imposed. The move was announced by the city’s Chief Executive John Lee on Tuesday.

Ms Lily, a 42-year-old professional who asked that she be identified by only her first name, said she would continue using a mask.

“I don’t feel safe not wearing one,” she said. “I’ll keep wearing one to ensure that I don’t get sick. I will wear it for about six months or so to feel safe and adjust.”

While some other major Asian cities also made masks mandatory during the pandemic, such as Singapore, none kept the rule for as long as Hong Kong.

Mr Lee said the dropping of the mask mandate, the last remaining major social distancing restriction, means Hong Kong is “completely returning to normalcy”. 

Ms Natalie, a 29-year-old worker in the real estate industry who also asked to be identified by only her first name, said she was nervous about going mask-free on Wednesday morning. 

“I suddenly became the minority,” she added. “But I can finally breathe without a mask. I can wear make-up. It made me happy.”

Another relic of the pandemic era was also consigned to history on Wednesday. The Penny’s Bay quarantine camp – which came to symbolise the intensity of Hong Kong’s zero-Covid approach – was decommissioned on Wednesday morning as a band played Auld Lang Syne and an official placed a giant fake padlock on the entrance gate.

Previously, travellers and infected people including babies were forced into government-run isolation centres such as the one at Penny’s Bay, where they had to endure spartan conditions, and attempts to escape could result in jail time. BLOOMBERG