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Coronavirus pandemic
Hong KongHealth & Environment

Coronavirus: Hong Kong public services to resume next week, says city’s leader Carrie Lam, but no news on whether social distancing will end

  • Chief executive expects civil servants to return to work, while libraries, museums and sports grounds will all reopen
  • However, Lam says any lifting of other restrictions can only happen gradually

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Workers head to their offices in Central during the coronavirus pandemic. Photo: Nora Tam
Alvin Lum

Public services will start returning to normal next Monday, when most civil servants will go back to their offices, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has said.

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But the chief executive did not confirm if rules on social distancing and restrictions on arrivals from mainland China, which both expire on May 7, would be extended, noting any relaxation had to take place gradually.

“I want to stress there are fluctuations in the number of cases,” Lam said on Tuesday. “So, we could not completely repeal these restrictions [in one go], and could only do so gradually.

“We have to impose these restrictions again when necessary, until a vaccine is found and most people are immune. Only then can we let down our guard.”

Confirming an earlier Post report, Lam said most of the 180,000 government employees would stop working from home, and all public services would revert to normal business hours, noting the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the city had decreased in recent weeks.
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