The incoming Chief Secretary Eric Chan and constitutional and mainland affairs minister Erick Tsang have tested positive for Covid -- a week ahead of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the SAR, and a possible visit by state leaders. The officials had just started observing a 'closed-loop' arrangement to minimise the chances of anyone infecting visiting dignitaries: A government spokesman said Chief Executive Carrie Lam had spoken to Eric Chan on Monday, while both were wearing masks and had kept their distance. She has since tested negative in her daily tests, and is not considered a close contact. Incoming CE John Lee had met with both men 'several days ago' and his PCR test taken on Wednesday had come back negative. Damon Pang reports:

The number of new Covid-19 cases continue to rise gradually, with 1,650 new infections reported on Thursday. Health authorities also say there's been a Covid-19 outbreak at a Chinese Restaurant in Tuen Mun, where at least 27 people have been infected so far. Violet Wong reports:

Cinemas, theatres, game centres, gyms, beauty parlours, hair salons, karaokes, bars, nightclubs, swimming pools and internet cafes have all been closed in Macau in a bid to contain the Covid-19 outbreak there. The move came after the number of cases in the gambling SAR more than doubled. Frank Yung reports:

The Hospital Authority says it plans to bring in senior mainland doctors from the Greater Bay Area in the second half of this year. As Steve Dunthorne reports, it's part of efforts by the authority to help fight what it describes as a "very worrying" brain drain here in Hong Kong:

The lights went out again in Yuen Long on Thursday night, with residents reporting a temporary loss of power in the district. Power supplier CLP says some 13-thousand households were affected, adding that said an initial investigation showed that the latest outage is related to supply instability caused by the cable bridge fire on Tuesday. Half of the households got their power back within ten minutes, the others after half an hour. Here's Aaron Tam with the details:

Two men are to appear in court on Friday to face sedition charges over social media posts that national security police say were designed to foster "ill-will and enmity" between different parts of Hong Kong society. National security officers also arrested three further people in connection to a separate case linked to martial arts classes. Cecil Wong has the details:

A minority rights group has criticised the move by the exams authorities to drop Hindi and Urdu as foreign language subjects in the Hong Kong university entrance exams, describing it as a major disappointment. The authority has announced that it would no longer offer both the languages spoken in India and Pakistan as electives from 2025, but will include Korean. John Tse, the executive director of Unison, says the decision is wrong from a multicultural perspective. He told Frank Yung that it will make it more difficult for ethnic minority students to progress to higher education:

Exams authorities say they plan to allow qualified mainland schools to hold Hong Kong university entrance exams from 2024. Mervyn Cheung from the Hong Kong Education Policy Concern Group welcomes the plan, saying he thinks there'll be a significant rise in the number of mainland students applying to take the DSE exams. He told Joanne Wong this would boost 'positive competition':

The Taliban authorities in the Afghan Province worst hit by a devastating earthquake, which is thought to have killed more than a thousand people, say the search for survivors has ended. Authorities have appealed for international support, to help the country deal with the aftermath of the devastating quake. Southeastern Paktika province has been worst-hit and the UN is scrambling to provide emergency shelter and food aid. Annemarie Evans spoke to our South Asia correspondent Murali Krishnan about the disaster:

Travel on Britain's railway system have ground to a near halt again... on the second of three days of widespread strike action this week billed as the biggest in decades. Tens of thousands of rail workers staged the latest day-long walkout over pay and job security, plunging commutes into chaos and forcing many people to stay at home. Vicky Wong asked our UK correspondent Gavin Grey if the strike has caused major disruptions:

A recent survey has found the proportion of overweight and obese children has more than doubled during the pandemic. Researchers from the Chinese University medical school and the Paediatric Foundation said they polled more than 1,400 parents of kindergarten and primary school pupils. Many of them said their children spent less time playing outdoors or they ate more snacks. Dr Lilian Wong, secretary-general of the foundation, told Violet Wong older children are more seriously affected than younger ones: