Hong Kong has added more than 600 new cases in a single day, and supermarkets, department stores, etc. will be closed for two weeks from the 10th

According to the CCTV news client, Carrie Lam, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, announced on the 8th that due to the severe epidemic situation in Hong Kong, the SAR government will further tighten social distancing measures.

The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Hong Kong has soared in recent days, with 614 confirmed covid-19 cases in Hong Kong on February 7 and 342 confirmed in Hong Kong on February 6. Previously, the number of confirmed cases in Hong Kong peaked at 149 in the summer of 2020.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor visited the Case Tracking Office

From 10 February, shopping malls, supermarkets, markets, department stores, barbershops and other establishments will need to be closed until 00:00 a.m. on 24 February; these venues will be included in the "Vaccine Pass" program implemented from 24 February. At that time, to enter the relevant place, you will need to use the "Travel with Peace of Mind" mobile app and show your vaccination records. At the same time, the maximum number of people per restaurant is reduced to two people; cross-family gatherings involving more than two families are prohibited in private premises, and violators can be fined.

Carrie Lam said that the actual situation facing Hong Kong is that although vaccination has been started for nearly a year, the vaccination rate, especially for the elderly, is still not high, and the vaccination rate for people aged 70 or above is less than 50%. In other words, there are still nearly 500,000 elderly people in this age group in Hong Kong who have not been injected. If they are at risk of severe illness and death, it will put unbearable pressure on Hong Kong's public hospitals and put the healthcare system at risk.

"So we must strive to continue to accelerate vaccination under the premise of "dynamic zeroing". Lam said that some people say that "dynamic zeroing" involves huge economic and social costs, but it is more in the public interest of Hong Kong that human life, health and medical systems will not collapse; others say that "dynamic zeroing" cannot be sustained, but the current insistence is to use this time to increase vaccination rates and avoid serious impacts on the medical system.

Edit: Feifei Yan