Sylvie Claire / May 28, 2021
Hong Kong property developers announced on Friday that the top prize in a lottery to encourage people to get vaccinated against Covid-19 will be a brand new apartment worth HKD10.8 million.
In a statement, Sino Group, Ng Teng Charitable Foundation and Chinese Estates Holdings said they are offering a one-bedroom apartment in a raffle for those who have been vaccinated in the world's most expensive city for property. Twenty prizes worth 100,000 Hong Kong dollars each will also be offered in the form of a prepaid card or credit card. All residents aged 18 years and above, including those with a working visa, who have received two doses of Covid-19 vaccine are eligible to participate in the lottery.
However, only those with permanent resident status will have a chance to win the first prize, an apartment of about 40 square meters. So far, less than 20% of the population has received one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and just 14% two doses. Hong Kongers' distrust of the Covid-19 vaccine is high, even though the former British colony is one of the few places in the world that has managed to procure enough doses to vaccinate its entire population of 7.5 million. Hong Kong has purchased 7.5 million doses of the US-German Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the same number of doses of Sinovac (China), although not yet approved by the World Health Organization (WHO).