The latest on the coronavirus pandemic and the Omicron variant – CNN

Hong Kong will mandate all government employees to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, or get tested for the virus every three days, authorities announced on Tuesday.

The news rules will come into effect on January 3, the statement said.

Employees who have a medical certificate to prove they are unfit to receive Covid-19 vaccinations will have the costs of the tests reimbursed, while other employees will have to pay for them at their own expense.

The government said the new measures are in response to the growing number of infection cases involving mutant strains of Covid-19 with high transmissibility in the world.

Hong Kong has followed mainland China in adopting a "dynamic zero-Covid strategy," closing its borders for much of the pandemic to non-residents and instituting strict quarantine requirements for returning residents.

It has so far not recorded any locally-transmitted cases of the Omicron variant.

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The latest on the coronavirus pandemic and the Omicron variant - CNN