The government said on Tuesday that an internet connection will be required for premises responsible for checking vaccine passes – such as restaurants – as part of the health code arrangement for Covid patients and overseas arrivals.

Deputy Government Chief Information Officer Tony Wong told an RTHK programme that operators will have a two-week grace period to update their QR Code Verification Scanner and make sure the devices they are using can connect to WiFi or mobile data to check customers' records.

"During this [updating] process, premises can first use visual inspection to see if people present an amber health code for scanning, or even whether there are people holding a red health code. But of course, the main responsibility falls on the visitors themselves," he said.

Wong said that after the update, the scanner can still identify people's health status, even when they provide a hard copy of their vaccination record, or do not have the latest version of the LeaveHomeSafe app.

The official also brushed aside privacy concerns regarding the checking of people's health status, saying their personal data will be encrypted, masked and hashed into unidentifiable information when uploaded to the government's cloud to determine if they hold a red or amber code.