Hong Kong fourth wave: schools to close until after Christmas holidays as city confirms 115 new Covid-19 cases
- Citywide suspension of face-to-face classes takes effect from Wednesday and into the new year
- Among Sunday’s new cases, 62 relate to dance cluster, 24 have unknown infection sources
All Hong Kong schools will close from Wednesday until after the Christmas holidays to curb Covid-19’s spread, as the city confirmed a four-month high of 115 new infections and its leader warned tougher punishments for breaking coronavirus rules were coming.
The government ordered the schools to shut down as Sunday’s tally marked the highest daily increase in infections since the contagion surge started more than a week ago, and the first time the city had recorded a three-figure rise since the 125 cases logged on August 1.
“According to the trend and the numbers so far we have observed, it seems that [the fourth wave] is more severe than the last wave,” said Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch.
“But of course it depends on the coming days. We have so far tightened some social-distancing measures, and increased the general awareness of the public and increased testing.”