“The epidemic situation is very serious now, and it is not ruled out that infection numbers will soon exceed 10,000 cases per day.”

Lo added that further opening up the city was “not a realistic option at this point” when asked what the latest situation meant for arrivals, who must currently quarantine for three days in a hotel and undergo four days of home medical surveillance.

The health minister said the government hoped to achieve “the best anti-pandemic outcome with the least cost to society,” but warned further rule tightening could be on the cards if the situation worsened, without specifically mentioning the measures.

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He warned: “I hope the public will stay cautious … and minimise large-scale gatherings … otherwise, the government may have no choice but to tighten other social-distancing measures.”

The city had seen some of the toughest measures early in February with establishments such as gyms, beauty parlours and bars closed and a cap on public gatherings tightened to two people.

Lo also made clear the government would not adopt Western-style Covid-19 policies or “lie flat”, a term meaning doing the bare minimum to get by.

“We are different from other countries. We are glad that we are different from other countries … for example, the UK has suffered very high casualties during the Covid pandemic … we certainly don’t want to copy that,” he said.

Lo also compared the city with Singapore, saying Hong Kong had much more of an ageing population, and had ended up becoming “a victim of our own success because we have the longest longevity in the world”, yet the vaccination rate for the elderly was still lagging.

On Friday, health authorities confirmed 7,835 new coronavirus infections, including 170 imported ones, as well as seven more related deaths. The city’s coronavirus tally now stands at 1,495,807 infections and 9,650 fatalities.

Lo, attending the daily coronavirus press briefing, said the latest basic reproductive rate of the virus had risen to 1.44, meaning case numbers were likely to double in two weeks on current trends.

Dr Larry Lee Lap-yip, a chief manager of the Hospital Authority, said public hospitals were coping with 350 Covid-19 admissions a day, compared with 250 daily in early August. With 322 patients added to the total of 2,324 on Friday, that meant 4.5 per cent of the day’s confirmed cases had to be sent to public hospitals.

Lee added that the occupancy rate of intensive care units had risen to 54.7 per cent from 45 per cent earlier in the month, posing a great burden on the public health system.

Under the new policy, Covid-19 patients aged 70 or above – with one or no doses of a vaccine – will have to quarantine at a government-run facility, to allow for better medical care there, as Lo said the Covid-19 death rate for unvaccinated elderly could reach as high as 16 per cent.

Confirmed patients living with “high-risk people” including the elderly, infants and the immunocompromised also need to stay in isolation facilities to protect the vulnerable.

The Health Bureau clarified that the new quarantine measure applied to elderly confirmed cases, rather than their close contacts as announced.

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“We understand there might be inconvenience for these elderly, but it’s for their own good,” Lo said, noting that those in the age group had a 5 per cent death rate after infection if they had only received one Covid-19 shot or were unvaccinated.

From Sunday, patrons at banquets – which Lo classed as more than eight people dining together – will have to take a rapid antigen test (RAT) within 24 hours of the event and present a photo of a negative result for entry, in line with rules already in place for bar-goers.

Meanwhile, the government also asked all staff in premises such as bars and gyms to to do rapid tests three times a week, while the Hospital Authority was formulating plans to require all employees to take polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests every other day, similar to a recent measure imposed on care home staff.

The health minister also dismissed worries that the surge of infections was linked to recently relaxed quarantine measures for incoming travellers, saying there was only an average of 195 imported cases each day, a similar figure to before the policy was eased.

A medical source confirmed that a government-appointed Covid-19 expert advisory panel was not involved in discussions on the new policies.

Professor Ivan Hung Fan-ngai, a government pandemic adviser, told the Post that the most recent meeting with the government was in July.

Infectious diseases expert Hung said the new measures would allow current social-distancing measures to remain unchanged. However, he said the government should focus on boosting the vaccination rate among the elderly, not total case numbers.

“It is more important to focus on the number of severe cases and mortality rate, rather than the actual number [of cases],” Hung said. “Most elderly were admitted for Covid-exacerbated chronic illness and not Covid pneumonia. Overall, severe cases remain low at 5 to 10 per cent of all cases.”

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Hung added that the local mortality rate for Covid-19 since May had been similar to the seasonal influenza, standing slightly higher than the flu at 0.18 per cent.

To cope with the rising number of people needing treatment for Covid-19, the Hospital Authority earlier in the day revealed it had entered its third stage of epidemic response, doubling the number of beds available for such patients to 5,000, while encouraging more private hospitals to take in cases.

Despite 13 private hospitals pledging 364 beds for public hospital patients, Lo said occupancy remained low, with only five facilities hitting 60 per cent, and three having taken none in so far. Only one hospital, CU medical Centre, is taking Covid-19 patients by offering 24 beds.

“If we use 60 as the passing mark, only five hospitals have passed the test … So I hope in the future, private hospitals can cooperate better and contribute to the fight against Covid-19,” he said.

The government separately said Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Algernon Yau Ying-wah and Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration Warner Cheuk Wing-hing had tested positive for Covid-19 and were currently serving quarantine.

They are among at least eight senior officials to be infected with the coronavirus this month after Commissioner of Police Raymond Siu Chak-yee and Director of Immigration Au Ka-wang returned positive results on Tuesday and Thursday respectively.

Respiratory medicine expert Dr Leung Chi-chiu said a reduction of cross-family gatherings was the important action to tackle rising infection numbers.

“The public health system’s capacity is limited, manpower is easily tight. We need to let the public know they too need to do something to reduce the number of cases,” he said.