Hong Kong to suspend face-to-face classes of secondary schools due to COVID-19

HONG KONG, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- All face-to-face classes of secondary schools in Hong Kong will be suspended no later than Jan. 24 until schools' Chinese New Year holidays, the Education Bureau (EDB) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government announced on Thursday.

The decision was made after various factors were taken into consideration as there have been confirmed cases or preliminary confirmed cases identified in schools, resulting in compulsory testing and quarantine of teachers and students, a spokesperson for the EDB said.

Primary schools and kindergartens in Hong Kong have already been required to suspend all face-to-face classes from Jan. 14 until schools' Chinese New Year holidays.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong on Thursday recorded 14 new cases of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, taking the total tally of cases testing positive to 13,096, according to data from the Center for Health Protection (CHP).

The newly reported cases consist of four imported cases, seven cases epidemiologically linked with imported cases, one local case, and two possibly local-related cases.

Thirteen of the cases involved mutant strains, while the mutation test result of the remaining case is pending, the CHP said.

Meanwhile, the whole genome sequencing analysis of 16 cases announced earlier showed they all carried the Omicron variant of COVID-19, bringing the total number of Omicron infections to 495 in Hong Kong.

Since the launch of a mass inoculation program in February 2021, about 5.2 million people, or 77.2 percent of the eligible population, have taken at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, while about 4.74 million, or 70.3 percent of the eligible population, have taken two doses.

Meanwhile, 737,067 people in Hong Kong have taken a booster shot as of 8:00 p.m. local time Thursday.