Hong Kong extends mask mandate again to 8 March

Hong Kong has extended its compulsory Covid-19 mask mandate for another 14 days to 8 March, despite the city has further eased travel restrictions and social distance curbs.

According to a government gazette published on 22 February, the mask mandate has been extended for two weeks until 8 March. Established in July 2020, the mask mandate has reached over two years. All citizens in the city must wear a mask at all times when boarding or onboard a public transport carrier, is entering or present in an MTR paid area, or is entering or present in a specified public place or a Cap.599F premises. Violators will face a fixed penalty of HK$5,000, or a maximum fine of HK$10,000 if their case goes to court.

This comes as the city's financial secretary Paul Chan said last Friday that the mask mandate could be lifted “at the end of the season” as the government mulls ending the last major Covid-related restriction. However, Hongkongers will still need to to wear masks when they visit hospitals and nursing homes even after the mandate is lifted, the health chief Lo Chung Mau said on a radio programme on Saturday.

Lo did not reveal when the mandate would be dropped, but stressed that the mandate will still be required where there were vulnerable people. He also said that people in the city should not forget the benefits of wearing masks, “If there was no such protection, the death rate and the health system would be much worse,” he added. 

In terms of social conversations, media intelligence firm CARMA saw over 2.1K mentions across social media, blogs and forums over the past week. Sentiments are more negative (17.8%) than positive (13.1%), keywords associated with negative sentiment include, "terrified", "forcing" and "profiteering", whereas positive sentiments are related to the lifting of mask mandates in Macau, according to CARMA.

Don't miss: Home and Youth Affairs Bureau: 'Happy Hong Kong' campaign on fast track

As Hong Kong authorities are considering to lift the mask mandate, the city has rolled out promotional campaigns to resume activities in Hong Kong and lure tourists and overseas workers. Most recently, Hong Kong’s finance chief Paul Chan has unveiled the "Happy Hong Kong" campaign on 2023 budget, including launching a "Gourmet Marketplace", under which large‑scale food fairs will be organised in various locations across the territory in the coming months, bringing together Mainland, Hong Kong and overseas gourmet food, with a view to enabling the public and visitors enjoy the good food in the city.

Taking charge of the execution of the campaign, Alice Mak, secretary for Home and Youth Affairs Bureau said authorities have reserved HK$200 million for the range of events, and she expected the campaign will be fast-tracked as the food fairs should be ready as soon as possible to align with the first round of HK$3,000 consumption vouchers, which will be distributed in April to help encourage local consumption and boost the economy.

Furthermore, the official launch of Hong Kong’s  HK$1bn global promotional campaign has received a fair bit of coverage as it looks to give away 500,000 air tickets to overseas visitors and 80,000 tickets to HongKongers, in an effort to raise the city's international image. The tickets distributed will be available first in Southeast Asia markets including Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia. Northeast Asia and mainland China will come next.

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