Coronavirus: Hong Kong to push ahead with easing social-distancing rules despite confirming 21 new cases
- Cinemas will run at half capacity, while beauty parlours can only serve customers with appointments
- Two elderly people succumb to disease, taking number of fatalities to 81
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.
From Friday, restaurants will be allowed to offer dine-in service until 9pm, three hours longer than the existing cut-off time. Cinemas can reopen but must operate at half capacity, with no more than two adjoining seats occupied by patrons. Eating or drinking will not be allowed.
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Beauty parlours can only serve customers with an appointment and allow no more than two people in each partitioned area. Staff must wear protective gear at all times. People will no longer be required to wear masks while exercising outdoors or when in country parks.
But other measures, such as the closure of more than 10 types of businesses including bars and gyms, as well as the ban on public gatherings of more than two people, will be extended until at least Thursday next week.
Medical experts said preventive measures should remain in place at least until the voluntary universal testing scheme, starting on September 1 for two weeks, had been completed so the authorities would get a better picture of the pandemic situation.
The latest infections pushed the city’s infection tally to 4,755.
The virus killed two more elderly people, a 70-year-old man and 81-year-old woman, taking the number of fatalities to 81.
Another man, 59, died at Tseung Kwan O Hospital shortly after he was admitted unconscious on Wednesday afternoon. He tested preliminarily positive for Covid-19.
Three of the 21 cases were imported: a man who came from Britain via Turkey; an aircrew member from Ethiopia; and a man arriving from Pakistan. Four of the 18 locally transmitted cases were untraced.
About 10 other people have tested preliminarily positive.
Among the latest confirmed cases was a police officer who worked at the West Kowloon headquarters.
He was part of a team of 10 and had worked outdoors.
But Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, from the Centre for Health Protection, said there was a low chance he had infected residents while working as he had worn a mask.
A social worker at Hong Chi Lei Muk Shue Hostel in Kwai Chung, a care home for the mentally disabled, also caught the virus, bringing the number of cases there to 11. An employee at a supermarket on Prince Edward Road in Kowloon was also infected.
The Leisure and Cultural Services Department said certain outdoor venues, such as running tracks in sports grounds, would reopen on Saturday. Some facilities, such as tennis courts and bowling greens, would reopen on Monday. It will adopt measures such as limiting the number of people allowed at sports grounds for jogging.
Meanwhile, Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung met school representatives to discuss arrangements for the resumption of face-to-face classes. Sources told the Post that lessons on campus could be expected to resume in phases by mid or late September at the earliest, but the Education Bureau had no specific date planned so far.
Secondary school pupils in Form One, Five and Six were expected to be the first batch to go back on a half-day basis.
Most local schools begin the new academic year in September, while some international one and kindergartens start in August. Education officials earlier this month said schools should begin their new term online until further notice.
