Transcript of remarks by SFH at media session

     Following is the transcript of remarks made by the Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, at a media session after visiting the University of Hong Kong Community Vaccination Centre at Ap Lei Chau Sports Centre, this afternoon (June 24):

Reporter: The CHP (Centre for Health Protection) said that the airport might be a source of the Delta variant just now. So how will the Government review the loophole at the airport? And also how likely will Hong Kong return to a standstill, when many social activities are forced to stop?

Secretary for Food and Health: I will answer your second question first. Under the new direction of the epidemic control, what we do not want to do is to close some premises, for example, some of these scheduled premises or restaurants or places whereby we have opened and yet we have to close again when the epidemic situation has worsened. This is exactly what we do not want to do. And that is why we want to have "vaccine bubble" as the basis of our relaxation. We are now trying to do our relaxation on a more targeted approach as well as using "vaccine bubble" as a basis and also as a principle, so that when we face any sporadic case or any change in the epidemic situation, we will review and come up with different measures, but in terms of social distancing, we are very cautious. We are refraining from opening and closing all the time. So that is why "vaccine bubble" is the way forward.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)