MR YIU SI-WING (in Cantonese):

The SAR Government has recently signed bilateral vaccination record recognition agreements with the Governments of Indonesia and the Philippines, allowing foreign domestic helpers from these two countries to come and work in Hong Kong under the terms of the agreements. Based on the arrangements with Indonesia and the Philippines, will the Government consider extending this practice to the Hong Kong residents in other countries or regions? That is, the Government would sign bilateral agreements with other countries whose vaccination records are not yet recognized, so that those Hong Kong residents who are stranded overseas would have the opportunity to return to Hong Kong. If so, what are the target countries or regions; and does the Government have a timetable? If not, what are the reasons?

SECRETARY FOR FOOD AND HEALTH (in Cantonese):

President, I can briefly add some information. I thank Mr YIU Si-wing for his supplementary question. As I mentioned earlier, in terms of our policy on guarding against the importation of cases, places are categorized into risk groups A, B and C. At present, for people from Group A specified places, which is the highest risk group, our current requirements are, firstly, they must be Hong Kong residents; and secondly, they must have received the vaccination before they can come to Hong Kong. As for the verification of certificates of vaccination, according to the list of the World Health Organization ("WHO"), verification has been granted to certain places in Group A, but some other places are still under our discussion. As regards those countries or places that have not yet been granted confirmation, we will also commence the discussion concerned.

First of all, as Mr YIU said, we have already made arrangements with the Philippines and Indonesia. In fact, we will then deal with other ASEAN countries, including Thailand and Malaysia, as appropriate.