Hong Kong to Start Vaccine Mandate at Restaurants, Gyms, Cinemas

(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong will require at least one vaccine against Covid-19 dose to enter restaurants and recreational venues before the Lunar New Year, after the city recorded its first local transmission of the omicron variant.

Cinemas, gyms, indoor sports grounds, public libraries, museums and concert halls are included in the expanded vaccine bubble, Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan said at a press briefing Friday. Staff at these venues will also be required to get vaccinated, with exemptions made for those with a certified medical condition.

The city already requires patrons of bars, nightclubs and karaoke parlors to be vaccinated, while the government said last week its employees will need to present vaccination records to enter government buildings and offices from mid-February.

The wider vaccine mandate comes as the Asian financial hub is contact tracing people linked to the city's first community spread of omicron. The cases risk sparking a so-called fifth wave after nearly seven months of zero local spread, or cases with no ties to someone with a recent travel history or connection with the airline industry.

The new rules will kick in before the city's biggest festival, Chinese New Year, starts on Feb. 1, a holiday that typically sees families congregate in large groups at restaurants.

Hong Kong has some of the world's strictest border controls, requiring vaccinated returning residents to undertake hotel quarantines as long as three weeks, as it pursues a Covid Zero strategy of eliminating the virus. The rising number of omicron cases globally, however, is threatening that strategy as travelers increasingly enter the city with infections.

While most of the city's current omicron cases have been caught in quarantine, the recent community spread has resulted from air crew entitled to a three-day home surveillance who visited local leisure spots during that period.

Officials also encouraged all adults to get booster shots starting Jan. 1, following studies from around the world that showed two doses of any vaccine are inadequate to fight the more infectious omicron variant.