Introduction to Hong Kong’s Mask Mandate
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee briefed the press on Tuesday that on 1 March 2023, the government will scrap the prolonged mask mandated by the city.
The government enforced the mask mandate in the wake of the pandemic on July 29, 2020. It has lasted for 945 days. The mask mandate in this financial hub was the longest-continued COVID-19 mask restriction in the world, which will come to an end tomorrow.
Lee asserted that wearing masks will no longer be compulsory for Hong Kong citizens, whether outdoors, indoors, or on public transport.
The government of Hong Kong noted that the financial hub was incurring immense losses in tourism as the mandated wearing of masks chased the tourists away. Thus, scrapping this stringent rule is a strategy to induce tourists to the city and get the tourism business back on track.
The measure, according to the CEO, will go into effect on March 1, 2023. Lee also said that starting tomorrow, the city will return to complete normalcy. He assured his citizens that getting rid of the mask mandate is a piece of coherent information indicating that Hong Kong is stepping into normality.
Hong Kong, in the upcoming months, will be pooling with a series of international events. In 2019, the constant violent agitation of the citizens halted several revenue-inducing events in the city, such as the music festival, Art Basel, and the Rugby Sevens tournament.
The Significance of 945 Days: Hong Kong’s Longest Mask Mandate
After the 2019 hassle, the city was stranded in an abyss of crises, with the pandemic and its restrictions being one of the major parts of their financial doom. As a result, This country had lifted the majority of the COVID restrictions by the beginning of the year.in hopes of attracting the dominant chunk of their ailing finances: tourists.
The chairperson of Lan Kwai Fong Holding Ltd., Allan Zeman, optimistically asserted that the lifting of this restriction will turn out to be a “game changer” for business. He wails because many tourists are avoiding Hong Kong because of its strict mask requirement. This portrayed the city’s image as still ailing from COVID. As a result, tourists avoid visiting the city.
The government, earlier in February, launched a promotional campaign called “Hello Hong Kong.” This campaign was an initiative by the government to get back into business by persuading tourists to believe the city is back to normal and also to boost the ailing economy that the pandemic had affected.
The obligation to wear a mask will only recently be eliminated in Hong Kong, making it the last place on earth to do so.
In the past three years, Hong Kong and Macau have followed China’s zero-Covid strategy. In 2022, Hong Kong lifted several inflexible Covid regulations. However, the mask mandate remains constant for the last 945 days since 2020.
The Chief Executive has left the decision-making in the high-risk areas, such as hospitals, whether they would want to mandate the employees and the visitors to wear masks or not.
Reportedly, though wearing a mask outdoors is not mandatory in mainland China, however, the government encourages citizens to wear one when in proximity to public indoor areas such as airports and train stations.
Hong Kong has been weighed heavily on revenues and reputation by global remoteness for the past three years. In 2022, the city’s economy receded to 3.5% in four years it was declining for the third time. The fleeing residents from the city have left it with a decline of net 187,000 in the population.
Also Read- New Covid mask rules in Hong Kong