Coronavirus Hong Kong: course operators, security guards among those seeking clarity on ban on cross-household gatherings
- Property management companies say the security guards are unsure how they should handle residents or visitors who violate ban on cross-household gatherings
- Elderly say the ban has made their lives more difficult as they cannot meet friends in parks
Hong Kong’s ban on cross-household gatherings has left small businesses operating in private places wondering if they will be caught out by the latest round of social-distancing curbs, while security guards working at residential properties say they are confused about their role in enforcement.
Frontline police officers, meanwhile, have been told to step up action against those who breach the two-person public gathering limit and the mask mandate.
The tightened restrictions, which reduced the number of people who could convene in public from four to two, and restricted private gatherings to two households, took effect on Thursday as authorities reported another 986 new infections, mostly involving the Omicron coronavirus variant. They were among the city’s toughest social-distancing measures in two years.
But property companies say they are confused as to how security guards in their buildings should deal with residents or visitors if they violate the ban on cross-household gatherings.
Johnnie Chan Chi-kau, immediate past president and spokesman of the Hong Kong Association of Property Management Companies, said frontline guards had no legal power to deny entry, but they should have an obligation under the law to ensure social-distancing rules were observed.
Health officials had on Tuesday said enforcement action would be taken only when rule-breakers were identified during contact-tracing of Covid-19 cases, and they would not knock on residents’ doors to check. But Chan said the lack of clarity could put security guards in a difficult position especially if there were complaints from residents.
“Our only advice for them is to urge those who breached the rules to leave the premises. We won’t take the initiative to report to police,” he said. “But the ambiguity will create a lot of conflict between us and residents, and in the neighbourhood.”
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The association has 108 members who provide service for more than 70 per cent of the various residential and commercial buildings and private facilities in Hong Kong that hire property management companies.
The cross-household ban applies to private places – defined as “any premises to which the public may not, or are not permitted to, have access from time to time” – but exempts gatherings in offices for work purposes.
Whether it covers the city’s thousands of venues that operate courses not registered with the Education Bureau remains a big question for them.
Yam Wai-ho, vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Chamber of Education Centres, said inquiries flooded in as to whether such venues had to close on Thursday. He estimated that there were at least 9,000 of them running interest classes, playgroups and courses in fixed private venues.
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STEM Enlightenment Education Centre’s director Li Yu-hin demanded clarification on whether his interest classes were covered by the two-person limit. Meanwhile, he suspended all courses and business collaborations.
“All young kids are taken here by a caretaker. So we have at least three people even if we have one-on-one classes,” he said. “If the two-person limit applies to us, there is no way we can survive.”
Yam said he believed teaching venues should also be exempted from the cross-household ban.
“When retail stores are allowed to open to sell products, should we also be permitted to offer services in a safe environment?” he said, adding that his group submitted a petition signed by 500 operators to demand one-off subsidies of HK$60,000 (US$7,705) for each business.
Undersecretary for Food and Health Dr Chui Tak-yi said he did not have an answer when asked whether such courses fell under the two-person limit.
Residents face a HK$5,000 fine for breaching social-distancing rules.
A police source had said officers could exercise discretion and give verbal warnings to people who did not wear masks on the streets. “Now, we will issue a fine to those who breach the rules without reasonable excuses,” he said, adding that smoking was not a defence.
But another source said officers could exercise discretion and give verbal warnings to those who gathered in public parks for activities such as exercising.
Some elderly residents who enjoyed spending time in parks said the tightened ban on gatherings, on top of other measures, made their lives even duller.
Cheung, a 65-year-old housewife who sat alone on a bench in a park in North Point, said she felt lonely as she could not talk to her friends sitting on other benches nearby. “The new ban gave me a hard time … I liked meeting people more than facing the walls at home. But now I cannot walk up to my friends here and talk to them.”
In another park nearby, about 10 elderly residents gathered at a corner to play chess in two clusters. One player surnamed Lam kept an eye out for police officers who might be patrolling.
“I don’t think the new arrangement will be efficient to fight the virus as the risk of infection is not high in the park. And [the tightened measures] are not friendly to people as we need our social life,” said Lam, a 72-year-old retired taxi driver.
Additional reporting by Kathleen Magramo
