'Judicial review king' challenges HK’s vaccine pass and LeaveHomeSafe mandate in latest attempt

The man who previously filed two judicial reviews against the government's attempt to invalidate some 20,000 vaccine exemption certificates has on Monday launched another legal challenge over the city’s vaccine pass and LeaveHomeSafe mandate.

The latest judicial review filed by Kwok Cheuk-kin - known as the "king of judicial reviews" because of his frequent legal challenges, noted that the mandates were unlawful given Covid-19 is no longer a disease outbreak as stipulated in the city’s Covid laws.

The government had declared regulations under the Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance in the wake of Covid, which Kwok said the legislations were set up with the disease treated as an outbreak to safeguard public health.

He said the mandates were unlawful as Covid-19 has now become a pandemic instead of an outbreak, while the mandates also led to worse social and economic consequences and undermined citizens’ health.

The vaccine pass and LeaveHomeSafe mandate were therefore in contravention of the Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance, he said in his review application.