Coronavirus: scrap 4-person cap on public gatherings, focus measures instead on preventing severe cases, Hong Kong experts urge as city nears 1,000th day in pandemic fight
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Hong Kong should scrap its four-person cap on public gatherings and focus Covid-19 measures on preventing severe cases, medical experts and government advisers have said as the city nears the 1,000th day of its battle against the pandemic.
Microbiologist Dr Ho Pak-leung, head of the University of Hong Kong’s centre for infection, on Monday suggested that authorities relax restrictions targeting both inbound arrivals as well as local communities.
He noted the city would clock 1,000 days in its war with Covid-19 on October 18, after recording its first infection on January 22, 2020.
“It is a significant milestone … We hope to fully relax [Covid restrictions],” he told a radio programme.
Measures he suggested suspending included the ban on more than four people in public group gatherings, as well as a function on the government’s “Leave Home Safe” risk-exposure app which required visitors to scan QR codes before entering dining and other premises and alerted people if they had visited places with infections.
Leung Pak-yin, a former chief executive of the Hospital Authority, also questioned the four-person cap on public gatherings.
“Activities and occasions like banquets, ball games, working out [at gyms], drinking [in bars], singing karaoke allow more than four people. Daily public transport on the MTR and bus exceeds four people for sure,” Leung wrote on Facebook.