Health authorities have expressed concern that the daily number of Covid-related deaths is in the double-digits and say they are looking into expanding the use of oral antivirals. On Wednesday, Hong Kong saw a rebound in the number of new cases, as Kelly Yu reports:

Cases of Covid-19 have spiked in some areas of the mainland. A district in the city where the virus was first detected has been placed under lockdown, marking the first time residents there have faced such restrictions since the start of the pandemic. Vicky Wong reports:

An NGO that is behind two transitional-housing projects in Ho Man Tin says the number of applications it has received is almost triple the number of homes available. Lok Kwan Social Service says it is a stark reminder of Hong Kong's housing shortage. Vanessa Cheng reports:

The government has responded to the call from a consortium of bus operators, power companies and green groups for a roadmap to phase out Hong Kong's diesel buses by saying it plans to test hydrogen vehicles on two routes by the end of next year. That came from assistant director of environmental protection, Kenneth Leung, and is slightly ahead of targets set out in last year's Climate Action Plan. Timmy Sung reports:

The government has been urged to raise the plastic bag levy four-fold instead of doubling it to $1, as it proposed last month. The call came from lawmaker Tony Tse ahead of the implementation of the first hike in plastic bag charges since they were first introduced in 2009. Maggie Ho reports:

A green campaign says it has recovered almost 50 million plastic bottles in a government-funded pilot scheme over 11 months. Under the scheme, cleaners get 5 cents for each bottle returned, and recycling companies get 3.5 cents for each one they collected. Paul Zimmerman, general manager of the Drink Without Waste initiative, says the campaign offered insight for the authorities to step up the city's recycling efforts in future. He spoke to Violet Wong:

The government has rejected suggestions made by the United Nations Human Rights Committee of worsening human rights in the SAR. The government said it strongly opposed what it called unfair and unsubstantiated criticisms from the UNHCR. Damon Pang reports:

The ICAC has charged two people with inciting others to cast blank ballots in last year's Legislative Council elections. The pair are accused of sharing a social media post from former Democratic Party legislator, Ted Hui, who fled Hong Kong and is in exile. Timmy Sung reports:

A property analyst says she expects prices to drop a further five to eight percent this year, before staging a rebound early next year, providing there are no mass Covid outbreaks. Hannah Jeong, head of valuation and advisory services at real estate services company, Colliers Hong Kong, was commenting after home prices dropped to their lowest levels in 18 months. Compared with June last year, home prices were down 3.4 percent. Jeong told Samantha Butler there was uncertainty in the market over when local banks might raise their prime lending rates, following multiple interest rates hikes in the US:

Young researchers and entrepreneurs working in the city’s innovation and technology industry could well become the next tech billionaire, if they successfully leverage on the national goal of transforming Hong Kong into an international I&T hub. That is according to engineering professor, Yung Wai-leung, who may know a thing or two about setting sights high. He has developed technology that is literally out of this world; it was used in China’s lunar exploration programme. He told RTHK that the secret to success for up-and-coming talent was to figure out the needs of the vast mainland market and meet those demands with innovative products. Natale Ching reports:

The Hong Kong Automobile Association says it will host a car parade this Sunday to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the HKSAR. More than 120 cars will take part in the journey from Cyberport to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge link road, through the Western Harbour tunnel. Chief executive of the association, Owen Chan, told Kelly Yu that measures were being taken to prevent possible traffic disruption: