Disposable masks have invaded the beaches of Hong Kong where, for several months, residents have been covering their faces to protect themselves from the new coronavirus.

According to environmental associations, these masks add to the already worrying amounts of plastic waste floating in Hong Kong's waters, writes Agerpres.

 "The disposable mask is just another weight we leave to future generations," said Gary Stokes, co-founder of OceansAsia.

 Shortly before the pandemic broke out, the Hong Kong environmental organization launched a one-year study on waste and microplastics found on one of the country's most remote and uninhabited islands.

 The five most commonly found items were bottles, polystyrene packaging, lighters, disposable cutlery and plastic straw.

 Currently, disposable masks float on the surface of the sea, along the beaches and the coast.

Recently, environmentalists identified and collected 70 masks within a radius of 100 meters.  A week later, another 30 masks were found.

 "Since people started wearing masks, the consequences of this phenomenon are now visible on the beaches," Stokes said.

 Hong Kong's nearly 7.5 million people produce six million tons of waste each year, of which only about 30% is recycled.

Giant pandas have begun to mate in Hong Kong's Ocean Park Zoo, which was deserted due to lack of visitors during quarantine, according to the zoo's website.

Two giant pandas, male Le Le and female Ying Ying, have been living in Ocean Park for 14 years. For the past ten years ministers have tried to coerce them into intercourse, but to no avail. And only now, when there were no more visitors, the instinct of reproduction woke up in animals.

The zoo is closed from the end of January. In March, as the employees note, the behavior of the pandas changed - the male began to look for the smells of the female and mark the territory.