Matthew Cheung, chief secretary for administration of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, on Sunday said the arrival of the first batch of mainland-manufactured COVID-19 vaccines in Hong Kong strengthens Hong Kong's anti-epidemic work and helps people to return to normal life.

Cheung wrote on his official blog that the central government attaches great importance to Hong Kong's epidemic situation and cares deeply about Hong Kong people's health. The first batch of 1 million doses of vaccines produced by Sinovac Biotech arrived in Hong Kong from Beijing on Friday, marking a new milestone in Hong Kong's fighting against COVID-19.

The HKSAR government has launched a territory-wide free COVID-19 vaccination program, and priority vaccination will be arranged for five groups of people, including healthcare staff, the elderly and those providing essential public services, Cheung said, urging people to actively participate.

The program will open for online appointments starting from February 23. Five community vaccination centers and 18 Hong Kong's Hospital Authority general out-patient clinics will begin administering the shots on February 26.

More than a thousand private doctors participating in the program are also expected to administer the Sinovac vaccine before mid-March, Cheung said.

Cheung also said the first batch of one million doses of the Fosun Pharma/BioNTech vaccine is expected to arrive by the end of this month. People will be able to receive the jabs at 24 community vaccination centers, he said.