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Coronavirus: masks will still be required at hospitals, nursing homes even after mandate is dropped, Hong Kong’s health chief says

  • Health chief Lo Chung-mau also defends raising tobacco tax, says ending mask requirement will increase smoking rate
  • ‘We should not forget that the masks have helped us a lot during the pandemic,’ he says

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The city has extended its mask-wearing mandate for another two weeks until March 8. Photo: Jelly Tse

Hongkongers will still be required to wear masks to visit hospitals and nursing homes even after the mandate for their use is lifted as the city returns to post-Covid normality, the health chief has said.

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Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau on Saturday also insisted it was “absolutely necessary” to raise the tobacco tax, a move announced in the budget, and said that dropping the mask mandate would inevitably increase the city’s smoking rate.

Lo told a radio programme that masks had made it inconvenient for people to smoke and that they had cut cigarette use.

“Over the last three years, the masks have helped us not only by controlling Covid-19, but also in reducing the number of smokers,” he said.

A care home for the elderly in Tsz Wan Shan. Photo: Sam Tsang
A care home for the elderly in Tsz Wan Shan. Photo: Sam Tsang

He was speaking after the government announced that the mask-wearing requirement would be extended for another two weeks to March 8.

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