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Coronavirus: Hong Kong parents want vaccination bar lowered, as school year kicks off without full day of face-to-face classes
- Not a single local school met the 70 per cent threshold required for full schedule of in-person classes, education minister says
- University of Science and Technology, meanwhile, begins new term with security guards checking vaccination and testing records before allowing campus access
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Some Hong Kong parents are urging education authorities to lower the 70 per cent vaccination threshold required to hold a full day of in-person classes, as not a single local school had met the requirement on the first day of the new academic year.
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Wednesday also saw security guards greet returning students and staff at the University of Science and Technology, where proof of vaccination or regular Covid-19 testing is now required to enter campus. It is one of several local universities to adopt the tough new measures.
“As of today, we have not received any schools’ application to hold full day face-to-face classes,” education minister Kevin Yeung Yun-hung told reporters after visiting a primary school in Tsuen Wan in the morning.
Education officials announced in early August that schools could apply to resume full-day, in-person classes as early as September 1 if more than 70 per cent of their students and teachers were fully vaccinated.
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