By The SUN
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| CE Lee (middle, front) pose for a photo with 16 new Exco members and 3 top secretaries |
Chief Executive John Lee says
he has called for a review of anti-pandemic measures, with a view to striking a
balance between reducing Covid infection risks and reducing travel
inconvenience.
Speaking ahead of his first Executive
Council meeting on Tuesday, CE Lee said, “I’ve asked the health secretary to
look at the evidence and statistics to see how we can on the one hand contain
the spread of the pandemic and at the same time reduce the inconvenience to
travelers.”
Lee said one of the areas
being considered is to reduce the hotel quarantine period for incoming travelers.
He added Health Secretary Lo Chung-mau was preparing a series of options for
him.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
Some government advisers have
proposed cutting down the mandatory hotel quarantine from seven days to either
five or three days, with the remaining time being spent on home quarantine.
Other experts and even politicians
have called for allowing residents to just quarantine at home, but the
government does not seem keen on the idea.
At the same time, the new CE
warned people in Hong Kong would only be allowed to go about their normal
activities once they are identified as not infected, but did not elaborate.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
He also took the chance to give thanks to the 16
non-official members of Exco for agreeing to take up the posts, saying their
vast experience will help him make important decisions.
Meanwhile, health authorities reported an
additional 2,268 Covid infections during the regular press briefing on the coronavirus
situation. Of these, 183 are imported cases.
Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the
Centre for Health Protection reiterated that the number of cases involving the
Omicron subvariants BA.2.12.1, BA.4 and BA.5 is on the rise.
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| Press for details |
She that the overall
proportion of the sub-variant cases remains low, there is evidence to show that
BA.4 and BA.5 are not only more transmissible, but could lead to re-infection.
“People need to remain
cautious,” she said.
Ten new cases involving the BA.2.12.1
sub-variant have been detected, along with eight that carried BA.4 or BA.5.
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| PRESS FOR MORE DETAILS |
Chuang also said 243 schools reported a
total of 321 cases. Six of these schools have been asked to suspend
face-to-face lessons in some classes for a week after at least two cases were
detected in each class.
The total caseload from the fifth wave has now
exceeded 1.243 million while the death tally is steady at 9,192 after no new
Covid-related death was reported.
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| PADALA NA! |
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