Coronavirus: Ban on dining in at eateries looms even as Hong Kong government limits hours

The number of Covid-19 infections in the city has continued to mount and the government has moved to suspend all campus activities for two weeks, while warning of a possible ban on dining out.

The health authorities yesterday said there were 48 new confirmed cases, bringing the total tally to 1,569. Of the new infections, 40 are local and the source for 24 of those are unknown.

On Monday, the city recorded 52 cases, of which 41 were local.

Dr Chuang Shuk Kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, described the proportion of cases where the source was unknown as "extremely worrying" and said all districts were affected.

Dr Chuang said: "For example, half of the reported cases today, we have no source... And also, we do not have a definite source.

"That means there are a lot of unknown sources in the community that can spread easily and they may be asymptomatic."

In the past week, the city has seen a surge in cases, with local transmissions making up for most of them, triggering alarm among health experts who warned of a new wave of infections that might be worse than what occurred in March.

Yesterday, the Education Bureau ordered classes and extra-curricular activities to be suspended till July 28. It also said schools must wrap up all exams in the next two to three days, failing which they should postpone or cancel them.

These applied to private institutions too.

Earlier in the day, Health Secretary Sophia Chan told a local radio programme that the government might ban dine-in services and get eateries to switch to takeaways if the situation worsened.

Her remarks were immediately criticised by Mr Simon Wong, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, who told RTHK that such a move would be detrimental to business.

He said half the 16,000 restaurants in the city could suffer a 35 to 40 per cent plunge in sales this month.

In the past two months, social distancing measures were relaxed, with consumers beginning to shop and dine again, raising hopes for an improvement in the economy.

The city's recession has deepened in the first quarter, with gross domestic product shrinking sharply by 8.9 per cent from a year earlier, the steepest plunge for a single quarter on record.

After last Thursday's tightening of restrictions, where the capacity of eateries was lowered, Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Monday said more clusters were detected in more areas, which called for tougher measures.

From today, no dining in will be allowed at all eateries from 6pm to 5am. Only up to four patrons will be allowed at each table.

The government has also added a new rule that carries a fine of HK$5,000 (S$900) - the mandatory wearing of face masks on public transport. Drivers of cabs and buses can refuse to ferry a passenger without a mask.

All gatherings will be capped at four people, while venues under a dozen categories - including gaming centres, bars, gyms and cinemas - will shut for seven days.

To beef up cross-border measures, those flying to Hong Kong from high-risk areas will have to show they tested negative for the virus before boarding a flight.

On Monday night, the city's two theme parks - Ocean Park and Hong Kong Disneyland - which reopened last month after months of closure following an outbreak in March, said their doors would shut from today till July 21.

Signs of panic buying have also emerged as shelves with paper products are empty again in some shops.

Supermarket chain Wellcome has announced limits on the purchase of items such as rice, eggs, tissue, canned foods and toilet paper.