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HONG KONG – Health Secretary Sophia Chan said on Friday (November 20) that the city “has probably entered a new wave of cases” following an increase in reported infections.
The Straits Times understands that the first flights under a travel bubble deal between Hong Kong and Singapore are expected to go ahead as planned for now.
Under the agreement, the travel bubble will be suspended for two weeks if the seven-day moving average of the daily number of unrelated local Covid-19 cases is more than five for Singapore or Hong Kong.
The latest figure, calculated based on data from the Center for Health Protection, is just over two, a source told The Straits Times.
On Friday, the territory added 26 confirmed cases, of which 21 were and the rest were imported. Details of untraceable cases were not released. Hong Kong has so far recorded 5,517 Covid-19 cases and 108 deaths in total.
The new cases comprised different groups, including taxi drivers, hotel stays and dance studios, said Professor Chan, revealing that preliminary tests found that another 30 people tested positive.
“Now we are doing our best and before this serious situation started, in the last week, we have already tightened many of our measures, including border control measures, quarantine measures, hotel regulation measures and also some of the measures of social distancing “. she said.
On Friday, Professor Chan revealed that, as part of the stricter measures, high-risk groups such as taxi drivers and nursing home staff, as well as patients exhibiting Covid-19-like symptoms when visiting doctors , must be tested for the coronavirus.
On November 14, the government moved to toughen social distancing rules after detecting clusters among taxi drivers and at a Lantau resort.
From Monday (November 16) to November 26, dinner services will end two hours before midnight. The number of customers in restaurants, which have to operate at half capacity instead of 75 percent, is now capped at four at each table, up from six. In bars and pubs, that number has halved to two.
Given the popularity of stay-in-stays due to borders remaining closed, officials seek to impose a maximum of four guests in each room at resorts, hotels and guesthouses – the same limit as public gatherings in the territory.
Professor Chan said on Friday that details would be worked out soon, as the government met with stakeholders on Thursday night.
The government has also tightened visiting arrangements for those serving mandatory 14-day quarantine periods after returning from abroad.
Separately, the Health Secretary said that as of November 23, face-to-face classes for lower primary levels (Standards 1 to 3) would be suspended for two weeks due to an outbreak of upper respiratory tract infections and Covid concerns. -19. He said classes in all schools could be canceled if the situation worsened.
The decision was made just over a week after the kindergartens were ordered to close for two weeks due to upper respiratory infections.
“As the transmission routes for upper respiratory tract infections and Covid-19 are similar, if Covid-19 spreads in schools, the risk it poses to the community is very high,” said Professor Chan.
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