Residents scan the QR code of the LeaveHomeSafe app to confirm their vaccinations before entering a supermarket in Tseung Kwan O on Feb 24, 2022. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)
HONG KONG – The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government on Thursday announced that the online platform for declaration of non-local COVID-19 vaccination records will be relaunched on Friday.
The platform will provide an additional channel for eligible persons to declare their non-local COVID-19 vaccination records apart from boundary control points and designated post offices.
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Considering the large number of people arriving in Hong Kong who hold non-local COVID-19 vaccination records, the HKSAR government has put in place arrangements for relevant persons to declare non-local vaccination records through boundary control points, designated post offices and online means starting from September last year.
To ensure that people have sufficient time to make declarations, a transitional arrangement has been provided under the vaccine pass
The HKSAR government has earlier updated the online platform and made respective technical revisions as the vaccine pass was implemented in stages.
For people who only hold non-local vaccination records and without the need to declare any non-local recovery record, they can make declarations through the online platform, the government said.
To ensure that people have sufficient time to make declarations, a transitional arrangement has been provided under the vaccine pass.
People who have received COVID-19 vaccines from places outside Hong Kong may directly present their non-local vaccination records and complete the specified form in order to enter specified premises of the vaccine pass without the need to scan the vaccination record QR codes on or before Aug 31 this year, the government added.
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The government will implement the third stage of the vaccine pass arrangement on May 31, which requires residents to get the third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine before entering specified premises.
Since the start of a mass inoculation program in February last year, about 6.68 million people, or 91.7 percent of the eligible population in Hong Kong, have taken at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, while over 6.27 million, or 86.2 percent of the eligible population, have taken two doses.
As of Thursday, the number of people in Hong Kong who have taken their third booster dose surpassed 3.53 million, or 52.1 percent of the eligible population in Hong Kong.
On Thursday, Hong Kong registered 116 new COVID-19 cases by nucleic acid tests, and 175 additional cases through self-reported rapid antigen tests, official data showed.