Coronavirus: half-day lessons to be maintained at Hong Kong primary schools, kindergartens as Covid cases rebound
- Secondary schools will still be able to run full-day classes if 90 per cent of students have received two doses of a vaccine and all staff three
- Much-awaited press briefing to announce easing of quarantine for international travellers called off over ‘unresolved technical issues’, sources say
In a letter to teachers, the Education Bureau on Friday said that owing to a rebound in the epidemic, schools’ readiness and health experts’ advice, all primaries and kindergartens in the academic year beginning in September would maintain half-day face-to-face teaching.
What you need to know about Hong Kong’s distribution of Covid oral drugs
Secondary schools will still be able to run full-day classes if 90 per cent of their students have received two doses of a vaccine and all staff have had three.
All students will also still be required to take a daily rapid antigen test before school.
International schools offering a non-local curriculum were told to make reference “in principle” to the document and look out for separate announcements on arrangements for them. They have mostly resumed full-day teaching in classrooms.
Health officials on Friday confirmed 4,428 new Covid-19 infections, including 205 imported ones, as well as four related deaths. The city’s coronavirus tally now stands at 1,372,112 cases, with 9,524 fatalities.
Ricky Ng Wing-hung, principal of Buddhist Lim Kim Tian Memorial Primary School, said he was not surprised by the bureau’s decision given that the daily caseload had recently exceeded 5,000.
“We principals expected that the full-day in-person classes [for primary schools] would not resume until the end of the first term,” he said.
Ng said his school had already extended pupils’ dismissal time to 1.15pm so they would be able to enjoy the longest period possible in school, while the original lunch break when whole-day lessons were held started at 12.10pm.
He said pupils’ social skills had been adversely affected by the reduced school hours, as the time for lessons or extracurricular activities had been shortened.
Ng said it was quite difficult for primary schools to reach a vaccination rate of 90 per cent as some parents were still worried about the side effects of Covid-19 shots. He said he had not heard of any primary schools reaching such a high rate.
Hong Kong to relax hotel quarantine rule ‘next week at earliest’
Meanwhile, the government on Friday called off a much-awaited press conference to announce the easing of Covid-19 quarantine for international travellers over “unresolved technical issues”, multiple sources told the Post.
“There are still some unresolved technical issues,” a government source said, without elaborating.
Another source said the Department of Health was meant to meet operators of quarantine hotels in the afternoon, but this was also cancelled.
It remains unclear when the press conference will take place, and if reductions to the quarantine period for overseas arrivals can still be implemented next week as planned.
Before the expected press briefing was scrapped, it is understood that Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu convened a meeting on Wednesday with government experts under a new, high-level command structure, with the health and innovation ministers also attending.
During the session, data was presented suggesting that 80 to 90 per cent of infected arrivals tested positive on the fourth or fifth day of quarantine.
But no decisions were made during the meeting as Lee had yet to conclude if the scheme should run on a “4+3” or “5+2” configuration, referring to the number of days in hotel quarantine and home isolation, a source said.
Hong Kong logs 5,020 Covid-19 cases, most in more than 4 months
Another source said Lee needed more time on the configuration because of the rising trend of infections, and he had not given a new timetable on the issue at the moment.
Officials planned to ensure a smooth implementation of the policy change together with a new colour-coded health system linked to the “Leave Home Safe” app that people must use to show their vaccination status for entry to public venues.
The new system will identify infected people with a red QR code, barring them from public places, and those subject to quarantine with a yellow one, greatly restricting their movements.
The government source added Lee was earlier told the colour codes were ready to be rolled out.
Hong Kong readies for more malaria infections after death among 30 imported cases
Separately, the Hospital Authority announced that a second patient had died of malaria, after it revealed that since last month a total of 30 arrivals from Africa had been diagnosed with the disease while staying in quarantine hotels. A 52-year-old man was the first to die. The authority said 19 malaria patients were still being treated in hospitals, with one in critical condition.
The Centre for Health Protection said that as most of the patients had arrived from Guinea in West Africa, its port officers would ask travellers from the country at the airport to report whether they had any malaria symptoms.
Those who have symptoms will be sent to hospital for further diagnosis and treatment, while those without will be asked if they will take a voluntary blood test for assessment.
