Next Hong Kong leader says city must work harder at COVID-19

By ZEN SOO
Associated Press

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s incoming chief executive, John Lee, says the city still has to work hard at controlling the coronavirus and boosting vaccination rates. Lee, who returned home after meeting with Communist Party officials in Beijing, says Hong Kong needs to control the spread of COVID-19 to create favorable conditions for a resumption of regular travel with mainland China. Lee said after landing at Hong Kong’s airport that he explained to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang that there have been many requests to resume normal travel. The city faced its worst COVID-19 outbreak at the beginning of the year, driven largely by the highly transmissible omicron variant.