HONG KONG - Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Carrie Lam on Thursday appealed to people aged 60 or above who had received three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to get the fourth dose in a timely manner.

Lam received her fourth dose of the Sinovac vaccine at the Community Vaccination Center in the Hong Kong Central Library. She inspected the operation of the vaccination center after she took the jab.

The HKSAR government said last Friday that after considering experts' recommendations, persons aged 60 or above who had received three doses of the Sinovac or BioNTech vaccines could receive the fourth vaccine dose at least three months after their last dose.

"Currently, the first-dose vaccination rate of the age group of 3 to 11 and that of 70 or above account for some 60 percent and some 70 percent respectively of the relevant populations, far lower than that of the other age groups," Lam said.

The HKSAR government has been stepping up efforts to boost the vaccination rates of children and the elderly, as a matter of priority, to reduce their risk of hospitalization, serious complication or even death upon infection, she added.

On Thursday, Hong Kong registered 579 new COVID-19 cases by nucleic acid tests, and 464 additional cases through self-reported rapid antigen tests, official data showed.