HK to extend social distancing measures for 7 days

Hong Kong, Nov 10 (IANS) Hong Kong's Acting Chief Executive Matthew Cheung announced on Tuesday the city's existing Covid-19 social distancing measures due to expire on Thursday will be extended for another seven days.Addressing the media, Cheung said that over the past week there were still untraceable new Covid-19 cases reported and the trend of local infections was also growing, reports Xinhua news agency. He urged the public to stay vigilant to prevent the epidemic from rebounding.The social distancing measures include mandatory mask-wearing in public places, group gatherings of no more than four persons. Catering businesses, entertainment premises and sports venues should operate upon meeting the pandemic prevention requirements.Cheung said that within this month, three measures will soon be taken including the launch of a contact tracing mobile app "Leave Home Safe" for Hong Kong residents to keep track of places they visited, which will enable the local health authorities to track contacts of confirmed cases more effectively.The other two included allowing Hong Kong residents who meet certain conditions to be exempted from the 14-day mandatory proposal on their return from China's Guangdong province or Macao, and implementing the bilateral Air Travel Bubble with Singapore.According to Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection, the total number of Covid-19 cases in Hong Kong is 5,380 and the number of deaths is 107.
--IANS ksk/