Coronavirus Hong Kong: tough vaccination and testing rules for businesses and customers as city leader unveils broad easing of social-distancing rules
- Decision to relax curbs not easy and it will not be able to satisfy all stakeholders, city leader says
- Government allows host of premises to reopen next week, but new rules require full vaccination and testing for some
Businesses and customers will still be subject to tough vaccination and testing rules for Covid-19 when Hong Kong starts easing social-distancing curbs from April 21, including an extension of dine-in hours for restaurants and the reopening of premises such as gyms, sports venues and cinemas.
Announcing long-awaited details of the first stage of a phased reopening plan with a review to be conducted after the Easter holidays, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Thursday noted the risk of more infections and cautioned against complacency.
“I hope the public will be more alert, especially during the coming Easter holidays,” she said. “The public should continue to get vaccinated … The decision to relax curbs is not easy, and it will not be able to satisfy all stakeholders.”
Hongkongers get first round of e-vouchers but fewer dining perks in sight
Falling infection numbers have put the city on track to ease restrictions in three phases over three months from April 21, after Lam earlier conceded that the public had reached the limits of tolerance for some of the harshest anti-epidemic measures in the world.
Health authorities confirmed 1,043 new cases on Thursday, the fewest since February 10, when 986 were recorded. They also reported 54 Covid-19-linked deaths, including 21 backlogged ones. The city’s overall case tally since the pandemic began stood at 1,195,338 cases, with 9,002 fatalities.
Under the first phase of the easing, the government will allow gyms, sports venues, beauty massage parlours, cinemas, game centres, theme parks and places of worship to reopen from next Thursday. But visitors will be limited to groups of four people. Bars will remain shut until a later stage.
Restaurants can operate dine-in services until 10pm, four hours later than the current cut-off time, with four people per table. Banquets can host a maximum of 20 people. All catering staff must be vaccinated and undergo rapid antigen tests every three days.
People will be allowed to gather in groups of four instead of two, provided the Executive Council, Lam’s de facto cabinet, approves the decision next week. A ban on gatherings of more than two households in private places will also be lifted.
Local tours can also resume, with a maximum of 30 sightseers in any group. But all staff must be vaccinated with three doses and undergo rapid antigen tests before every tour and tour group members must fulfil requirements stated in the city’s vaccine pass. If they test negative, the maximum number per group could be increased to 100.
Cinemas will be allowed to serve food and drinks if all staff and customers have received three vaccine doses.
Government sports venues such as basketball and tennis courts, children’s playgrounds can also reopen. Public libraries, museums and performance venues will operate at 50 per cent capacity. But public beaches, pools and barbecue venues will remain shut.
The business sector largely welcomed the easing of restrictions, but the catering industry expressed worries the requirement that staff undergo tests every three days would increase operating costs.
03:14
What you need to know as Hong Kong gets set to ease Covid-19 restrictions from April 21
“This testing rule is quite tough for catering staff. This will add to their growing fatigue and stress for Covid-19. For example I did this test every day in March and then one day I started to have nosebleeds,” said Ray Chui Man-wai, chairman of the catering industry group Institute of Dining Art.
Lam emphasised there was no “hard indicator” to determine whether rules would be tightened again, but if there was “a sudden surge of cases to 50,000” or new variants emerged, “the whole city would be anxious”.
“Hong Kong is much, much better prepared to handle another wave,” she said, adding she would receive her fourth vaccine jab soon.
Lam also stopped short of giving details of the second and third phases of the relaxation, saying that the government would review the situation after the Easter holidays. She earlier said in the second phase, bars, party rooms, karaoke lounges and public beaches could reopen.
“We have to take into account the situation after the long holidays … including the socio-economic factors and mental health of students,” she said.
Lam noted daily infections had been trending down and the daily caseload had dropped by more than 90 per cent to just over 1,000 since its peak in March.
HKU expert questions continued need for wearing mask while hiking
Officials also detected a case involving the Omicron subvariant BA.5 for the first time, concerning a 24-year-old man who arrived from South Africa on April 6. Health authorities were tracking if there was any uptick in case detection. The World Health Organization revealed earlier this week it was tracking BA.5 and several other variants to determine whether they were more dangerous.
The case was discovered while the man was quarantined at Bridal Tea House Hotel. He was later transferred to community isolation facility Regala Skycity Hotel.
The BA.5 sub-lineage has been reported in a number of countries, including South Africa and some European nations, according to the World Health Organization.
“We are tracking [the virus] very closely to see if there is any uptick in case detection, but [so far] we haven’t seen any change in epidemiology or severity,” WHO lead epidemiologist Dr Maria Van Kerkhove said on Wednesday.
Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection said further genome analysis would be conducted on those with the L452R mutation, which is found in the Delta and Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 strains of the coronavirus.
