It is time to “hand over responsibility and power” to Hongkongers in the fight against Covid-19, the city’s health minister has said while insisting residents have become more familiar with the coronavirus.

Defending the government’s move to drop the vaccine pass, test mandates for travellers and most social-distancing measures, the health chief said it was not a sudden decision and he was not “giving up” on epidemic control.

“The caseload is no longer a very important part of the current situation. Everyone is more familiar with how to deal with the virus,” Lo told a radio programme on Thursday.

“It’s time for change – from the government controlling the situation to handing over the responsibility and power of quarantine and infection prevention to residents. It’s up to them to decide whether they have symptoms to see a doctor or take sick leave.”

Hong Kong’s relaxations came three days after Beijing on Monday night announced it would downgrade Covid-19 as an infectious disease and reopen the country’s border from January 8, as well as scrap centralised quarantine and on-arrival tests.

Hong Kong logged 24,895 Covid-19 cases on Thursday, including 1,306 imported infections, and 62 deaths. The city’s total case tally now stands at 2,568,596 cases, and 11,683 fatalities.