Hundreds of rescue workers, accompanied by over 1,000 soldiers, have been dispatched to the epicentre of a magnitude 6.8 earthquake which has claimed at least 46 lives. The quake struck a mountainous region in Sichuan and was centred about 16 kilometres beneath the town of Luding, about 180 kilometres southwest of the provincial capital, Chengdu. Ada Au reports:

Health authorities say they are worried that upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations may boost Covid infections in the community. On Monday, 10,021 new cases were reported, including 152 imported ones. Aaron Tam reports:

The president of the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Hong Kong has urged people to get inoculated as soon as possible rather than wait for second-generation vaccines. William Chui said he expected new batches of Covid vaccines to be available here only in the first quarter of next year. He said there was no evidence yet to show the new Covid vaccines were more effective against Omicron subvariants. He also told Kelly Yu that parents should not wait for "baby versions" of the BioNTech jabs:

A family doctor has urged people to keep a close eye on any coronavirus medication taken by their elderly relatives, to ensure there is no mixing up of drugs and that treatment courses are completed. He said many old people seemed resistant to taking such medication, as Joanne Wong reports:

The government has been urged to allow Covid oral antiviral drugs to be distributed in the private market, in order to boost their uptake. Henry Yeung, a council member of the Hong Kong Chinese Medical Association, was commenting after authorities said only 40 percent of elderly Covid patients were willing to take oral Covid medication. Private doctors who want to dispense these drugs must first register for them. Dr Yeung told Janice Wong that some reasons for the low uptake included fears over side effects and even mistrust of doctors:

Across the border, the city of Chengdu has extended its lockdown amid a Covid-19 outbreak there. Residents are required to have more testing, as Vanessa Cheng reports:

Three former lawmakers have urged the High Court not to wait for the conclusion of an upcoming national security trial to sentence them, now that they have indicated they intend to plead guilty to a subversion charge. Jeremy Tam, Kwok Ka-ki and Alvin Yeung are among 29 defendants who plan to admit wrongdoing in the 2020 Legco primaries case. Kelly Yu reports:

Police have arrested six men over an armed robbery at a Causeway Bay luxury watch shop. The robbers, wielding a gun-like object, hammer and a knife, had made off with timepieces worth more than $13 million late last month. Timmy Sung reports:

The administrator of the Hong Kong Superbike Club says there should be clearer guidelines over which roads are risky for motorcyclists. Douglas Thomson was commenting after a motorcyclist, thought to hold a learner's permit, was seriously injured on Shek O Road on Sunday. Under current rules, learner cyclists are restricted from certain roads - such as highways - and cannot take passengers but are allowed to drive alone. Thomson said Shek O Road had sharp bends and blind corners. He told Samantha Butler that it was not easy to find information about which roads were risky for motorcyclists, as well as those which were not accessible for learners: