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HONG KONG (AFP): Hong Kong began easing major social distancing measures on Friday (May 8) with bars, gyms, beauty salons, and cinemas reopening their doors after the financial center largely halted broadcasts. of the deadly coronavirus.
Queues lined up outside gyms in China’s semi-autonomous city on Friday morning for employees to check temperatures as people celebrated a return to normality in the city.
Doris, a 39-year-old yoga teacher, said her first classes were already full after weeks of teaching online.
“I am excited to share again … and see my students,” she told AFP.
“I was quite eager to get back to the gym,” added Alexandre, a 26-year-old financial worker after completing training in the city’s business district.
“It shows that life is starting to return to normal even though we have not been locked up like in Europe,” he added.
Will Sutton, an American resident, tweeted photos of his local gym with partitions placed between working machines.
“After three weeks without exercising, whatever … let’s sweat again!” he wrote.
The least health conscious went to the watering holes, some of which opened their doors as soon as the clock struck midnight.
“I am very happy,” a gambler named Chow told Apple Daily outside a recently reopened bar in the Kowloon district in the early hours of Friday morning. “I haven’t been here in a long time.”
Most of Hong Kong’s entertainment venues were closed in early April when the city suffered a second wave of infections, mostly residents returning from Europe and North America as the pandemic quickly spread there.
But health officials have made impressive progress against the disease thanks to efficient testing, screening and treatment programs with just over 1,000 infections and four deaths.
New Covid-19 cases have been in single digits for the past 18 days, with eleven days showing a zero count. All new infections are residents who return from abroad and are quickly quarantined.
In a city mired in recession, the reopening of many businesses will be welcome. But the threat of the virus means that certain restrictions remain.
Bars can operate at medium capacity and must guarantee a distance of 1.5 meters between tables, while live music and dancing performances are still prohibited.
Gyms, cinemas, and beauty salons should also ensure social distancing, such as adequate space between yoga mats, as well as temperature controls and hand sanitizer.
Pure, one of the largest yoga chains, said it would limit classes to a maximum of eight people, while bowling alleys are only opening any other lane.
Authorities have also raised the limit on how many people can gather in public from four to eight.
Restaurants will now also be able to take group reservations of up to eight people.
Clubs and karaoke businesses will remain closed for now because health officials consider them “high risk.” – AFP
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