Hong Kong unmasked: how are residents feeling about showing their faces after years of covering up?
- People no longer have to wear masks indoors or outdoors, although they may have to use them in ‘high-risk’ venues
- Health experts recommended people wear masks in hospitals, crowded places or on public transport
Hong Kong on Wednesday finally axed its mask mandate after nearly three years but many people heading to school and work in the morning kept their face coverings on.
As one of the few cities in the world to have kept such a rule in place for so long, many people were wary of removing their masks. Among workers waiting for trains in Tai Wai, only a few were maskless, while at several schools, students said they were not keen on removing their face coverings and were taking a wait-and-see attitude.
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Many in Hong Kong remain masked on city’s first day after end of Covid face-covering mandate
From March 1, people do not have to wear face coverings indoors or outdoors, although supervisors of “high-risk” venues – including hospitals and care homes for the elderly – can require visitors to wear masks to guard against Covid-19.
However, health experts have reminded the public that the coronavirus has not disappeared and recommend that people wear masks in hospitals, crowded places or on public transport.
So 8.6 billion face coverings later, here is how the first morning without a mask mandate in almost three years went in Hong Kong.
Reporting by Willa Wu, Oscar Liu, Rachel Yeo and Kahon Chan