Hong Kong Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip chats with a student who is about to receive his COVID-19 vaccination at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, June 23, 2021. (PHOTO/HKSAR GOVERNMENT)
HONG KONG – Hong Kong reported two new imported cases on Wednesday, bringing the overall tally in the city to 11,898, as the government announced the suspension of flights from Indonesia effective from Friday.
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The new two cases involved a 34-year-old woman flying in from Indonesia and a 49-year-old man whose overseas travel history has yet to be made clear, according to a statement issued by the Centre for Health Protection.
As of 10 am Wednesday, the number of Hong Kong residents who have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine surpassed the 2 million milestone, according to a social media post by Secretary for Civil Service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen
The woman, who was quarantined at Silka Seaview Hotel in Yau Ma Tei after arriving in Hong Kong, developed symptoms on Monday, the CHP said. The man remained asymptomatic.
It is the 16th straight day for Hong Kong to reported no new local infections.
The CHP said there were 28 new cases over the past two weeks, all imported from overseas.
As of 10 am Wednesday, the number of Hong Kong residents who have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine surpassed the 2 million milestone, according to a social media post by Secretary for Civil Service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen.
READ MORE: HK eyes more quarantine hotel rooms, logs 2 new virus cases
Nip visited on Wednesday the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the first university in the city to launch on-campus vaccination services.
About 800 students and faculty members were inoculated with either Sinovac or BioNTech vaccines, according to a government statement.
“I am pleased to learn that HKUST had earlier planned to make arrangements for vaccination so as to reduce the risk of the possible spread of the virus in a crowded environment and to provide a safe and healthy learning and working environment for students and teaching staff amid the epidemic,” Nip said.
He once again called on various sectors to join the government in promoting the “Early Vaccination for All” campaign and encourage people to get jabs to help build an immune barrier and restore normality in Hong Kong as soon as possible.
Also on Wednesday, the government announced the invocation of the place-specific flight suspension mechanism for Indonesia, meaning all passenger flights from Indonesia would be prohibited from landing in Hong Kong with effect from Friday.
The government said Indonesia would also be specified as an extremely high-risk "Group A1" specified place to restrict people who have stayed in that place for more than two hours from boarding passenger flights for Hong Kong, so as to stop persons from the relevant place from traveling to Hong Kong via transit.
Considering the epidemic situation in India, Nepal, Pakistan, and the Philippines, the place-specific flight suspension for these places will remain in place, the government said.
In another development, a number of housing estates in Tai Po were put under a compulsory testing order on Wednesday afternoon as “a very high viral load” has been detected in the sewage samples collected in the area, indicating that the virus may have been transmitting in the neighborhood.