Hong Kong is dropping a Covid era mask mandate as it seeks to return to “normalcy”.
The ending of the rule after 945 days highlights efforts to revive the Asian financial hub following the pandemic.
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region chief executive John Lee confirmed that the mask mandate would be scrapped from tomorrow (March 1)
He said: “I have always told people that I will be monitoring the situation of Hong Kong in regard to the total number of infected cases, the overall trend and the different data that indicate the situation of Covid in Hong Kong.
“It is because of the overall assessment of all the factors that have been taken into account that I made the decision.”
The Hong Kong government has been monitoring when to lift the mask requirement for almost two months.
Lee added: “After looking at all the data, the trend and the fact that the winter surge is nearing the end, in order to give people a very clear message that Hong Kong is resuming to normalcy, I think this is the right time to make the decision.
“That is why today I made the announcement to lift the masking requirement as soon as possible, that is, starting from tomorrow (March 1).
“With the masking requirement removed, we are starting to resume to normalcy comprehensively, and that will be very beneficial to economic development, our international competitiveness as well as our activities which involve everyone in Hong Kong.”