Hong Kong on Saturday stepped up anti-epidemic efforts with strengthened social distancing measures as untraceable COVID-19 infections were reported for a fourth straight day.
Sophia Chan, secretary for food and health of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, said at a press conference on Saturday that the HKSAR government will tighten social distancing measures to prevent the fourth round of the epidemic outbreak.
For 11 days starting next Monday, the number of customers at a table will be limited to four for restaurants and two for bars, and entertainment venues including bars and swimming pools can only open at half of the capacity. As for hotels, there should be no more than four customers in a room.
Besides, the government started to test all visitors from foreign countries and put them in mandatory quarantine for 14 days in hotels since Friday. Starting Nov. 23, visitors entering via land borders, who want to be exempted from the quarantine, should hold negative test results for the coronavirus.
Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection (CHP) reported eight new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, including three local infections and five imported cases. One local case was of unknown origin. Hong Kong's tally was raised to 5,444.
Head of the CHP's Communicable Disease Branch Chuang Shuk-kwan said there were also more than 10 preliminarily confirmed cases.
According to Hong Kong's Hospital Authority, 112 patients are still being treated in hospitals, including six in critical condition.
