Children urged to get timely vaccination for COVID-19: health official

HONG KONG, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Sophia Chan, secretary for Food and Health of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, Monday urged parents to arrange for their children aged three or above to get vaccinated for COVID-19 in time to reduce the risk of serious illness or death if they got infected with the virus.

Chan said in her blog that arranging for children to get COVID-19 vaccines will also create more favorable conditions for students to return to school and carry out various learning activities.

The HKSAR government announced earlier that schools will resume face-to-face classes in phases after the Easter holidays, where all staff, teachers and students are required to conduct COVID-19 rapid antigen tests daily and only those who test negative can enter schools.

The government has provided different channels for schools to arrange for group vaccinations conveniently, including arrangements for mobile vaccination stations and vaccination outreach teams to visit schools, as well as allowing schools to make group appointments at community vaccination centers or designated student health service centers under the Department of Health, Chan added.

On Monday, Hong Kong registered 316 new COVID-19 cases by nucleic acid tests, and 297 additional positive cases through self-reported rapid antigen tests, official data showed.