Fears of a third wave of Covid-19 cases have prompted the Hong Kong government to shut local schools early for the summer holidays.

Officials had already dealt with two waves, in February and April.

Yesterday, Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung announced that all kindergartens, primary and secondary schools are to close from next Monday.

The government will also decide if the coming school year can start as planned next month or in September.

Mr Yeung said that schools will have to choose if they want to continue with tests next week or postpone them, as the risk of Covid-19 transmission in an examination setting is low.

"It's now very close to the planned summer vacation, anyway - we are talking about seven to 10 days - so we think that for the general good of the community as well as for the health of the students... we can advance the commencement of the summer vacation to next Monday," said Mr Yeung.

He added that although some students and parents had been infected in recent days, not a single case was due to the virus being spread in a school.

Hong Kong schools were first shut during the Chinese New Year period, and classes resumed only in late May and last month.

The city reported 38 more coronavirus cases yesterday, bringing the total number of confirmed Covid-19 patients to 1,403.

Seven people have died.

Of the new cases, 32 were local and the rest were imported. Eleven of the local cases were residents in a Sha Tin estate.

Local media reported yesterday that more than 10 residents in a Sha Tin estate were sent to hospital, owing to an outbreak in the estate.

In the past week, dozens of local cases were linked to an eldercare home, taxi drivers and eateries, prompting the government to announce on Thursday the tightening of some social distancing measures.

The health authorities had reported 34 locally transmitted cases on the same day - the most in a single day since the pandemic began.

From today, the operating capacity of eateries will be capped at 60 per cent, and each table should have no more than eight patrons. Tables must be spaced 1.5m apart.

Tables in bars, pubs and nightclubs can accommodate a maximum of four people only.

No more than eight people are allowed at venues where people can remove their face masks. These include karaoke lounge rooms, party rooms and gyms.