The Education Secretary Christine Choi on Saturday said the current Covid-19 situation was still under control and that she expected students to be able to have at least half-day lessons when the new school year starts next week.

She told a radio show and a TV programme, however, that secondary schools may be prohibited from having full-day in-person classes should the Covid situation worsen.

"If the Covid tally really tops 10,000, we have made some plans, including reviewing the current arrangement that allows full-day classes at schools that reach a certain percentage of vaccination rate," she said. "Maybe we will see whether the full-day classes arrangement is appropriate."

Choi called on parents not to take their children to crowded places and to make sure they do rapid tests over several days before the new school year starts, adding that schools were reminded to maintain good hygiene.

She said the current anti-epidemic measures were effective in preventing outbreaks in schools, and that the government would keep a close eye on any developments in the pandemic situation to see what new measures might be necessary.

Choi said the Education Bureau would count the number of students in Hong Kong after the school year begins, noting that the city would have a surplus of school places this year due to recent population decreases.

She added that the bureau was in talks with school sponsoring bodies about merging schools, saying some would have to cease operations if they did not have enough students.

The minister admitted that it was had been harder to hire teachers this year, but that most vacancies have now been filled.