Social distancing measures extended until Oct. 1 holiday

Chief Executive Carrie Lam in a press briefing Tuesday. (SCREENSHOT: isd.gov.hk)

Domestic workers looking forward to the long holiday weekend next week will have to continue observing social distancing, as Chief Executive Carrie Lam said current measures will stay in place for another week.

The Hong Kong leader said there will not be many changes to the existing measures—like prohibiting public gatherings of more than four people and requiring face masks in several public spaces—which are set to expire on Thursday.

The measures will remain in effect until Oct. 1, the first day of the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday weekend, Lam said.

Lam told reporters the Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan will disclose more of the details Wednesday.

The rules were eased last week after a decline in the local transmissions of coronavirus. Bars, pubs, theme parks, and other places of amusement were opened subject to following certain conditions.

Tuesday also saw eight new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection, data from the Centre for Health Protection showed. Five of these confirmed cases hailed from India, while the three remaining cases had links to previous infections.

Lam said that from Sept. 15 to 21, there were a total of 67 new infections in the city, of which 44 or two-thirds of the total, were imported. She also pointed out that of the 23 local cases, only three had unknown sources of infection.

But Lam said they cannot quickly cut out the number of imported cases, despite the seeming surge in recent days.

Hong Kong on Sunday banned flights from Air India and Cathay Dragon’s Kuala Lumpur service after several of its passengers tested positive for the coronavirus. The Prevention and Control Ordinance allows the banning of service flights should a number of their passengers onboard be found infected with coronavirus disease (COVID-19).