The government said on Wednesday that it is closing five Covid vaccination centres from later this month, as the demand for jabs has reduced in the past few weeks.

It said in a statement that only an average of around 27,200 doses of vaccines were administered daily in the past seven days.

As a result, the inoculation centre at the University of Hong Kong will cease operation on May 23, while the ones located in Central Library, Kowloon Bay Sports Centre, Tsuen Wan Sports Centre and Education Bureau Kowloon Tong Education Services Centre will close on June 1.

Twenty-one other inoculation centres will continue to operate but for shorter hours from mid-May. Sixteen of the centres will offer the BioNTech vaccine while the other five have Sinovac.

Two BioNTech centres for children in Sha Tin and Tsuen Wan – Yuen Chau Kok Sports Centre and Tsuen Wan Sports Centre – will be relocated from the beginning of next month.

The CUHK Medical Centre in Sha Tin and the Osman Ramju Sadick Memorial Sports Centre in Kwai Chung will be open to children aged between five and 11.

The authorities said they will be closely monitoring the demand for vaccination and encouraging children and the elderly to get jabbed.