Hong Kong extends Covid-19 social-distancing measures for another week as top infectious disease expert warns of rise in transmission rate

HKU’s Professor Gabriel Leung blames uptick on ‘anti-epidemic fatigue’ and says social-distancing measures must not be eased

Number of daily Covid-19 cases still too high to consider easing restrictions, government says

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Hong Kong’s restaurants have been hit hard financially by the third wave of infections. Photo: Sam Tsang

Lilian Cheng,Victor Ting,Gigi ChoyandElizabeth Cheung

Published: 11:44am, 17 Aug 2020Updated: 4:20pm, 11 Sep 2020

Hong Kong’s ban on eating in restaurants at night will continue for another week, as the city confirmed 44 new Covid-19 cases on Monday.

That came as a government adviser and top infectious disease expert warned against relaxing social-distancing measures, and revealed that a recent rise in the transmission rate for the coronavirus meant an infected person would spread the pathogen to one other individual on average.

Among the new infections reported on Monday, 31 were locally transmitted, including 20 that were linked to previous cases.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said two more workers at Kwai Tsing Container Terminals were confirmed as infected. But they were not linked to Wang Kee Port Operation Services, which recorded 33 cases on Sunday. One was a truck driver and the other a crane operator.

Now is definitely not the time to consider lifting any measures, we are at a critical stage and must hold our nerve for at least two more weeks

Professor Gabriel Leung, HKU

She said reducing the number of people in common areas and contact between workers was as important as maintaining good hygiene. So far, 65 confirmed cases were linked to Hong Kong’s biggest container terminal.

The Transport and Housing Bureau said a meeting was held between its officials, the Department of Health and terminal operators to follow up on measures to reduce the spread of the virus. The office and resting room of Wang Kee were disinfected and their use suspended.