HONG KONG: Hong Kong plans to offer COVID-19 vaccines to children as young as 3 as infections rage through the semi-autonomous Chinese city.
The announcement Monday came as the government reported 1,347 new cases, all but two of them locally acquired.
The wave blamed on the omicron variant has already prompted new restrictions limiting in-person gatherings to no more than two households. Hong Kong residents have been rushing to grocery stories to stock up on vegetables and to hair salons to get haircuts.
Authorities have imposed lockdowns on residential buildings wherever clusters of infections are identified, and have already banned public dining after 6 p.m. Only vaccinated people will be permitted in shopping malls and supermarkets, while places of worship, hair salons and other businesses have been ordered to close.
Immunizations using Chinese Sinopharm vaccine for children aged 3 and up will start being administered on Tuesday. Hong Kong has fully vaccinated 73 percent of its eligible population, not including children.
With a population of about 7.5 million, Hong Kong currently has more than 7,000 people being treated for COVID-19 or awaiting admission to hospitals.
Hong Kong has adopted mainland China’s “zero tolerance” approach to dealing with the pandemic that requires quarantines, mask mandates, case tracing and lockdowns of buildings, neighborhoods and entire cities, even when only a few cases are detected.
Beijing officials and Chinese state media say adopting a “living with the virus” policy as some countries have done would overwhelm Hong Kong’s medical system.
The city has as recorded a total of 22,980 COVID-19 cases and 219 deaths from the virus.