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Hong Kong is battling a new coronavirus cluster that originates from one of the city’s lesser-known elite hobbies: wealthy older women visiting dance clubs for lessons, often with handsome young instructors.
The cluster has fueled the so-called fourth wave in the Asian financial center, its worst outbreak in months with 92 cases reported on Friday. The sharp rise in infections has been linked to ballroom dance venues, including the Starlight Dance Club and Heavenly, the government said.
The dancers have earned a reprimand from Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, for conducting “close contact activities without masks” amid a pandemic.
The outbreak has forced the suspension of an air travel bubble with Singapore and the temporary closure of high-end commercial, sports and social clubs across the city. Hong Kong has also had to introduce stricter social distancing measures.
“This time, nature has taken a turn, and the outbreak has spread to the city’s wealthy apartments and villas. It’s easy to imagine how scared they are, ”said Chip Tso, a well-known Hong Kong columnist.
Hong Kong has earned praise for keeping the pandemic under control through a combination of masking and strict social distancing measures without imposing a complete lockdown.
But the city, which is a major transportation and cargo hub, has had to suppress successive new waves of the pandemic, with outbreaks stemming from gaps in quarantine procedures and other sources.
However, the latest outbreak is the first to target Hong Kong’s affluent classes, particularly high-income business women and are those the city’s wealthy unemployed spouses.
“The are those They are a very special community in Hong Kong. They have too much money and too much time on their hands, ”said Mr. Tso.
He added that they often formed hobby groups, around activities such as yoga, Chinese painting or dancing, with the latter attracting many “dancers to come to Hong Kong to provide partners.”
Online gossip and discussion columns have focused on the age difference between women and their instructors. Some commentators have speculated that some of the youth are Article or “ducks,” a Chinese euphemism for gigolo.
But George Yip, president of the Hong Kong DanceSport Association, said that despite some unethical practices, it was normal for instructors to be younger men, as the job requires good physical condition.
“Better get the husbands of those are those to be your partner, but husbands often prefer to play golf or ball. It’s like having a partner for your tennis game, ”he said.
The health authorities have linked more than 300 cases with the dance and song group in 14 places in the city.
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Dance classes are big business in Hong Kong. Monica Wong, a former head of HSBC’s private banking in Asia, agreed to pay HK $ 120 million ($ 15.4 million) for eight years of unlimited Latin dance lessons in 2004. The deal ultimately ended in a lawsuit. .
The dance club outbreak prompted the government to require mandatory testing for the first time for anyone visiting the venues this month.
He also ordered the closure of bars and saunas. The government stopped live performances and dancing in function rooms, and limited the number of hotel guests to four in a room and eight in a suite.
Hong Kong has 6,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and 108 deaths.
