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.”
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.
