Hong Kong's government announced yesterday a cautious easing of some social distancing rules, as the third coronavirus wave stabilises, with group gatherings to be capped at four and some businesses to reopen.

Barring any spike in cases, Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan said, the limit imposed on eateries will be raised for a week from Friday to four people a table, up from the current two patrons.

Existing rules, including tables spaced at least 1.5m apart, as well as mandating restaurants to cap seating at 50 per cent, will stay.

Sports premises, amusement game centres and places of public entertainment will reopen, Professor Chan said, adding that club houses, karaoke lounges, pools and pubs will be considered in the next phase of rules relaxation.

Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau, who was at the briefing, said if conditions prevail, restrictions on two theme parks - Disneyland and Ocean Park - and convention exhibition centres, which are now closed, will be lifted on Sept 18.

He added that Hong Kong has initiated bilateral talks on travel arrangements with 11 jurisdictions, including Japan and Singapore.

Prof Chan said the free mass Covid-19 testing programme that started on Sept 1 will be extended to Friday, so as to identify those who are asymptomatic. Over 1.2 million people have booked appointments online to be tested and results of more than 930,000 have been uploaded to the system.

Yesterday, six new confirmed cases were added, of which three were local infections, bringing the total tally to 4,895, with 98 deaths.