The Monetary Authority has announced it will go ahead with preparations for the eventual issuance of Hong Kong's own digital currency, after garnering support for the move in a market consultation. It admits there is no imminent need for a digital currency at the moment, but says it wants to "future-proof" Hong Kong, as Mike Weeks reports:

A Beijing official overseeing Hong Kong affairs says it is not very appropriate for people to say that there is a wave of emigration from the SAR. Huang Liuquan also says more people will be attracted to come here from the rest of the Greater Bay Area, as Kelly Yu reports:

New Covid cases have fallen for a fourth straight day, to below 6,000. But a young boy is among the 20 patients currently receiving critical care. Damon Pang reports:

The Chief Executive says amendments to quarantine rules and other Covid restrictions have to be done in an orderly way so people feel comfortable with the changes. But John Lee says his administration is actively studying changes to pandemic rules for inbound travellers in order to create maximum connection with the rest of the world. Frank Yung reports:

A former secretary for transport and housing has called for a “bolder” step towards reducing quarantine for inbound travellers, saying the idea of 0+7 may not be attractive enough for visitors or business travellers. It means no hotel quarantine, but seven days of monitoring - when visitors cannot access certain premises. Anthony Cheung from the Education University's Department of Asian and Policy Studies told Ben Tse that Hong Kong needed a roadmap to normalcy, or it risked losing its competitive edge:

The Hong Kong Marathon is back on, but the race has been pushed back to February. The announcement from the organiser appears to be a reversal of its decision on Friday to cancel the event, which is now expected to have a 25,000-strong field. Frank Yung reports:

A survey by secondary school students has found their peers have relatively little awareness of the concept of sustainable consumption, More than 600 pupils were questioned between January and February in the study. Three-quarters of respondents thought sustainable products were simply ones which were cheaper and therefore easier for consumers to buy, and most had never considered factors such as packaging and raw materials used when making purchases. The Fair Trade Hong Kong Foundation helped to organise the survey. Its chief executive Maria Cheung also told Samantha Butler that the respondents were not enthusiastic about recycling in schools:

A High Court judge has reserved a ruling on whether to order the coroner's court to open an inquest into the Lamma ferry disaster in 2012 that killed 39 people. As Timmy Sung reports, he is expected to hand down his decision at the end of next month:

China could launch commercial sub-orbital spaceflights by 2025, with each ticket expected to cost two to three million yuan. That is according to a leading rocket scientist, who told the Global Times newspaper that the nation’s commercial space sector had entered "its best development phase". Priscilla Ng reports:

At least nine more people are reported to have died in Pakistan from water-borne diseases that are wreaking havoc in the wake of monsoon floods which covered a third of the country. There is also been an alarming rise in mosquitoes carrying deadly malaria and dengue to people who've been left homeless. Annemarie Evans spoke to RTHK's South Asia correspondent Murali Krishnan about the situation: