(To watch the full press briefing with sign language interpretation, click here.)

The Government will expand the scope of a vaccine bubble to scheduled premises under the Prevention & Control of Disease Ordinance (Cap 599) as soon as possible in order to strengthen the anti-epidemic barrier.

Secretary for Food & Health Prof Sophia Chan made the remarks at a press briefing this afternoon, stating that the Government had introduced a vaccine bubble since six months ago, especially for catering businesses or scheduled premises that are considered high risk.

“The Government is progressively expanding the vaccine bubble to more places now,” Prof Chan said.

Under the new vaccine bubble arrangement, to be implemented in the future, more venues will require people to receive at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccination before entering.

“We are not saying that one dose of vaccination is enough, but we also have to be practical while we want to implement this measure, the vaccine bubble, to all these scheduled premises under Cap 599 as soon as possible.”

Prof Chan explained that the vaccine bubble scope will be expanded before Chinese New Year because people will attend gatherings during the festival. As such, she urged citizens to maintain awareness of epidemic prevention.

“We want to appeal to people to be very, very vigilant about their own daily activities and also mask-wearing, and secondly, be aware of the notices that the Government is sending out so that they know whether they are one of the people who require compulsory testing or not.”