HONG KONG – Hong Kong will reopen public beaches and increase the number of people, who will be allowed to sit together in bars and restaurants starting Friday.
Sophia Chan, the Chinese special administrative region’s health secretary, said that six people would be allowed to sit together in restaurants, which was four earlier. Bars will be able to seat four people together.
All dining facilities will be allowed to stay open until 2 am.
Chan said public beaches would reopen Friday with social distancing measures, including masks and bans on large gatherings, still in place.
Chan told a news briefing, “The epidemic situation has continued to subside over the past two weeks.” She warned that residents needed to be vigilant to fight the virus.
The relaxation of measures comes in the wake of the country maintaining single digit or no new local cases in recent weeks. However, the city has continued to register imported cases.
“Globally, there is a worsening epidemic situation that may continue to pose some public health risk to Hong Kong,” she said.
The programme screened 1.8 million people, which makes to almost a quarter of Hong Kong’s population.