Hong Kong reports 986 new COVID-19 cases

Hong Kong reported 986 new cases of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, according to data from the Center for Health Protection on Thursday.

Of the 986 newly reported cases, one was imported and the rest were local cases. Most of them were infected with the Omicron strain. There were another 800 cases preliminarily tested positive.

Alfred Sit, secretary for innovation and technology of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, said that the "vaccine pass" arrangement was first implemented from Thursday on Type D catering premises ahead of its full implementation on other premises.

The maximum number of persons per table for catering premises under Type D Mode of Operation will be four, and all of them must have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

Under the arrangement, which will be fully implemented on all catering and scheduled premises including shopping malls from February 24, people will be required to scan the venue QR code using the "LeaveHomeSafe" mobile application before entering the premises and to show their vaccination records.

Sit said that the HKSAR government launched in late January the latest version of the "LeaveHomeSafe" mobile app for automatic display of electronic vaccination records. The app also supports the storage of vaccination exemption certificates.

Since the start of a mass inoculation program in February last year, about 5.51 million people, or 81.8 percent of the eligible population in Hong Kong, have taken at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccines, while over 4.93 million, or 73.3 percent of the eligible population, have taken two doses.

Meanwhile, over 1.15 million people in Hong Kong have taken their third booster shots.