The temporary ban on some businesses opening in Hong Kong has been extended for two more weeks, but certain restrictions on the city’s restaurants were being relaxed, officials said on Tuesday. Bars, pubs, beauty salons, massage parlours, and karaoke bars are among the 11 premises that must now remain shut until May 7, at the earliest. Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said that, even though Hong Kong recorded no new infections on Monday , the regulations needed to remain in place to make sure the city kept up its battle against the coronavirus pandemic. “This is not the time to be complacent. If we relax, the good work that we have done will be in vain,” she said. “That’s why the bans, that would have expired on April 23, will now be extended by two weeks.” The relaxing of restrictions for restaurants means establishments can have more customers, as the ban on having more than 50 per cent of the normal seating capacity has been scrapped. But other regulations, such as there not being more than four people per table, and keeping tables 1.5 metres apart or separated by partitions, remain for another 14 days. Health minister Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee said there was a relaxed arrangement for restaurants, as officials noted that placing tables apart, or putting partitions in between them, was the most important approach in preventing spread of infections. “If one can do these measures effectively, that is having 1.5 metres apart between tables as well as having effective partitions, probably the number of customers has already fallen below 100 per cent,” Chan said. As the growth of Covid-19 cases in Hong Kong has eased recently, Chan said the government would need to consider a number of factors and there was “no fixed and fast formula” in making the decision. “We need to monitor the epidemic situation globally,” she said. “Do we have any imported cases, any locally infected cases, and how is the rise of cases locally? “Are we able to do more testing and conduct isolation and quarantine well? Do we have enough facilities, and the capacity of our health care system.” Earlier in a radio show, Dr Leung Chi-chiu, chairman of the Medical Association’s advisory committee on communicable diseases, said the second wave of infection in Hong Kong stemmed from imported cases was “basically under control”, but the city needed to be careful about imported cases causing hidden transmission in the community. He said while quarantine measures had to be relatively strict, authorities would need to see if other anti-epidemic policies had been practicable. “For example, the rule limiting public gatherings to four people has not been implemented that well on many occasions,” he said. He said authorities should study if there were other ways to lower risks at entertainment venues. If they could come to an agreement with the industry, the city’s “relatively normal life” should be resumed gradually and orderly. “Under a prolonged battle, if you drag [the measures] for too long, the impact on the economy will become increasingly obvious,” he said. Liberal Party lawmaker Tommy Cheung Yu-yan, who represents the city’s catering sector, was disappointed that the measures had been extended, and estimated the restrictions could shed another 1 per cent off the city’s gross national product. “Do any Hong Kong officials know economics? Or is economics in their dictionaries?” he said. “They should not listen to one side only, to me, the so-called experts do not have scientific evidence and think the relaxation should only come after some 20 days of zero cases,” he said. He suggested bars and entertainment businesses should be allowed to operate with restrictions, such as having tables 1.5 metres apart, like in restaurants. The government should gradually relax its restrictions if the epidemic improved, instead of waiting until May 7, Cheung said, and called for another HK$5 billion in funding for the sector. “By extending these measures, the ones who hurt most are frontline staff,” he said. “As their bosses are not allowed to run their businesses, these workers could not get paid.” As part of Hong Kong’s battle against the spread of the coronavirus, the Regal Oriental Hotel in Kowloon City will start taking in asymptomatic airport arrivals from Wednesday, in the afternoon or evening, before their coronavirus test results have been completed. But questions have been raised over the choice of the hotel, which is around 36km away from the airport. “We had tried our very best to look at, including airport hotels and hotels that are more nearby the airport,” the health minister said. Hong Kong resets 28-day count to zero as local Covid-19 case confirmed She added it was “not easy” to quickly identify a hotel to use, as a few criteria needed to be met, such as the hotel could not be too small, and the ventilation system should be fit for purpose. Chan said the Regal Oriental had been deemed suitable for that purpose after examination. “Our engineers have inspected the hotel and its ventilation system, and confirmed the related arrangement would not pose extra risks to buildings or the community around the hotel,” she said. Leung said it would be more cost effective to use hotels for travellers to finish their 14-day quarantine period. Under the existing arrangement, he said there were concerns over people receiving “false negative” results, and whether travellers’ luggage was contaminated. But Leung added the risks posed to the hotel staff and the neighbouring residents “were not particularly high” as long as travellers did not gather in, or walk into the community a lot. Additional reporting by Tony Cheung and Natalie Wong