A man scans a QR code for the government's Leave Home Safe app, used for contact tracing amid the COVID-19 pandemic, to enter a restaurant in Hong Kong on Dec 9, 2021. (BERTHA WANG / AFP)
HONG KONG – Hong Kong reported seven more Omicron infections on Friday as the government announced the expansion of the citywide COVID-19 vaccination program to allow more people get the booster shot.
Starting from Jan 1, all adults could receive the COVID-19 booster shot while adolescents aged 12 to 17, who were previously asked to take only one dose of the BioNTech vaccine, could receive a second jab.
The announcement followed recommendations by the Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases on Thursday.
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All adults are entitled to receive a third shot six months after their second dose, according to a government statement on Friday. Some people such as those traveling to high-risk places can get a third shot after three months.
Nine of the 10 community vaccination centers will extend opening hours to 12 hours per day, opening from 8 am to 8 pm, to facilitate the public to receive the third dose
Meanwhile, nine of the 10 community vaccination centers will extend opening hours to 12 hours per day, opening from 8 am to 8 pm, to facilitate the public to receive the third dose.
The government also announced on Friday that the number of hospital COVID-19 vaccination stations will be increased to 13 starting from Thursday.
The new stations at Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital in Tai Po and Yan Chai Hospital in Tsuen Wan will provide walk-in services for BioNTech vaccination, the government said in a separate statement. “Prior booking is not required,” it said.
The new Omicron infections reported on Friday involved three men and four women aged between 18 and 61, according to the Centre for Health Protection. They were confirmed cases on Monday and Wednesday and the latest whole genome sequencing analysis found that they the Omicron variant.
Five of them tested positive during the “test-and-hold” arrangement upon arrival at the Hong Kong airport and two of them tested positive during quarantine, the center said. Including the seven infections, the financial hub has so far reported 41 Omicron cases.
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The city on Friday logged five new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 12,555. They comprised four imported infections and one imported-related case. All of them involved mutant strains, the center said.
The imported cases involved a 20-year-old woman from Germany and Ireland, a 46-year-old man from Ghana, a 25-year-old woman from Ethiopia, and another 25-year-old woman from Australia. They have all been fully vaccinated, according to the CHP.
The imported-related case involved a 64-year-old man who lives in On Hei House in Tuen Mun. He is a cleaner at a designated toilet solely for use by preliminary positive imported cases confined at a designated area at the Hong Kong airport while waiting for transfer to hospital.
As the man may carry the Omicron variant, the government specified on Thursday night the building he lives as a “restricted area” and required all residents there be tested for COVID-19. All results have been negative.
A total of 72 COVID-19 infections have been reported in the past 14 days and all of them were imported.