Coronavirus: Hong Kong to push ahead with easing social-distancing rules despite confirming 21 new cases
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Undersecretary for Food and Health Dr Chui Tak-yi on Thursday said residents had already developed fatigue after the current measures were adopted last month.
“After more than a month of very intense and tight social-distancing measures, I think we have to balance public health needs and the needs for people to have some more social activities and also economic activities in the community,” he told a regular press briefing on the virus crisis.
He added that the government had been reviewing the local Covid-19 situation around the clock and would cautiously relax other measures when possible. But the authorities would also not hesitate to strengthen the measures if the outbreak worsened, he said.
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Hours before Chui’s comments, a spokesman from his bureau said that under the “new normal”, the public had to accept there would be sporadic cases and clusters in the community from time to time. The city could not and should not wait until there were no confirmed infections for an extended period of time before considering relaxing social-distancing rules, he added.