Chief Executive John Lee on Tuesday defended the government's decision to amend the law to give the health secretary the power to invalidate Covid vaccine exemption certificates after a court ruled that previous legislation did not grant him such authority.

The administration moved to make the change days after the High Court ruled that the Prevention and Control of Disease Regulation, in its original form, did not empower the health chief to void more than 20,000 such papers issued by seven doctors suspected of issuing exemptions improperly.

Lee made the remarks ahead of the weekly Executive Council meeting, after a reporter questioned whether the government's decision to change the law rather than accept the verdict sent the wrong message about rule of law in Hong Kong.

The CE said the question was misleading.

“The judgement indicates that, well, there is a gap which needs to be filled, and therefore, according to the judgement, we take action to fill that gap, to ensure that the action we take has a strong legal basis,” he said.

“So that is in full compliance with the principle of the rule of law,” Lee said.

The CE was also asked about the local economy, after the SAR on Monday reported a year-on-year contraction in GDP of 4.5 percent for the third quarter. It was the third consecutive quarter of contraction.

Lee said Hong Kong, as an open economy, was affected by weakness in the global economy.

He added that the Covid-19 pandemic had also had an impact on the tourism industry, and that is why he had, in his Policy Address, set aside HK$600 million to boost local tours.

And, as the epidemic situation eases in Hong Kong, he said the SAR would be able to stage more events and this would hopefully stimulate the economy.

He also said the number of participants for this week's Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit had met the government's expectations, noting that two senior bankers had withdrawn after contracting Covid and another had cancelled his trip to Asia.

The CE will give the summit's opening keynote speech on Wednesday. About 200 delegates from 100 financial institutions are expected to join the event.