The government said on Sunday that it had received an application from BioNTech for it to approve the second-generation booster vaccine which targets Covid-19's Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 .

The administration said it would pass the matter onto the SAR's expert panel on vaccines after examining the information provided.

Authorities said they had been following up with the manufacturer in order to have the new-generation vaccine delivered to Hong Kong as soon as possible. But at the moment, there is no delivery timetable.

Officials also called on people to get enough doses of the Covid vaccine, so as to be protected in the face of highly transmissible mutant strains of the coronavirus and especially during winter.