Hong Kong tightens restrictions amid resurgence of COVID-19 cases

On July 13, Chief Executive for China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam announced that the government will tighten the health safety measures and restrict assembly of people from 50 to 4 due to surge in COVID-19 cases. Addressing a press conference, Lam made face masks mandatory on public transport and reduced capacities at the restaurants to a maximum 4 and allowed only curbside pickups. Further, she announced a curfew between 6 pm to 5 am on the outdoor premises.  

New arrangements would come into effect on July 15, Lam said at the press conference.

Lam suspended operation of at least 12 high-risk public venues, including beauty salons, fitness centres, bars and cinemas. Further, she said, border measures were made stricter to prevent imported cases. Liam insisted that the overseas travellers will now have to test negative post a 14-day quarantine in order to arrive in Hong Kong, all the while stressing that a test would be conducted at the arrivals on the airport. Liam’s announcement comes in view of resurgence of COVID-19 cases as in the past 24 hours over 52 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus were registered by the health authorities. Fresh outbreaks pushed the total coronavirus cases to 1,522, while fatalities stood at 8, with one new death in the past day.  

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Hong Kong Disneyland to shut on July 15

While the Hong Kong government is now drafting tighter measures to deter the “third wave” of infection, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan said that the arrangement for “high-risk travellers” entering Hong Kong is in discussion but hasn’t been implemented yet. Lam urged “vigilance” emphasizing the need for the city to combat the disease by adherence to the safety norms as the outbreak situation was grave.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong Disneyland announced in a press release that it will shut down on July 15 as the local government restores health restrictions. The park had reopened June 18. Last week, Hong Kong announced that it would close schools in response to the resurgence of the cases. While the theme park at Disneyland will remain closed, Disney announced that the on-site hotels will remain open, "with an adjusted level of services.” 

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(Images Credit: AP)