Pedestrians wearing face masks following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak walk on a street in Hong Kong, China February 8, 2022. REUTERS/Lam Yik
Hong Kong is extending gathering limits to private premises for the first time in an attempt to keep residents from socializing as it fights an unprecedented outbreak.
The city will also limit public gatherings to two people, down from four currently, and expand the list of venues included in its vaccine mandate to shopping malls, food markets and hair salons, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Tuesday.
Authorities are turning to increasingly strict measures to try and tame a worsening outbreak that’s pushed the health-care system to the brink. Lam said earlier Tuesday she would stick to a Covid Zero strategy, while indicating the city would steer clear of implementing a mainland China-style lockdown.
Hong Kong is set to report a record of more than 620 coronavirus cases, according to local media. The rapid spread of the omicron variant in the face of some of the world’s toughest measures to root out the virus shows the difficulty of maintaining a strategy that aims to totally eliminate the spread of the virus.
With hundreds of people testing positive each day, the city’s meticulous contact-tracing and isolation measures have come under severe strain, with long lineups for testing and a constantly shifting approach to quarantine facilities.
