HK govt announces first phase of social distancing rules relaxation

The Hong Kong government will relax some social-distancing rules from 21 April onwards, including the extension of dine-in hours for restaurants and the reopening of sport venue. 
Starting from 21 April, restaurants are allowed to operate dine-in services from 6pm to 10pm. The cap on customers per table will be expanded from two to four. A maximum of 20 people would be allowed for banquets.

In addition to restaurants, some other premises that had required by the government to close in January will also reopen, including gyms, beauty parlours, public sports and performance venues, libraries, museums, children’s playgrounds. However, bars and pubs will remain closed. Food and drinks will be allowed in cinemas but all staff and customers must have received three doses of vaccination. The government has also proposed that citizens will also be allowed to gather in groups of four instead of two in public places. The government said the executive council will discuss about this decision next week.

Additionally, local tours will resume with a maximum of 30 customers per tour. All staff are required to be vaccinated with three doses, and undergo rapid antigen tests before every tour. All tourists have to meet requirements stated in the vaccine passes too.

In March, the Hong Kong government said it would lift a ban on flights from nine countries on 1 April but passengers still need to fulfil certain conditions to enter the city, including having a valid booking at a quarantine hotel. Chief executive Carrie Lam said on the daily press conference that a ban on flights from nine countries, including Australia, Canada, France, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, the UK and the US, will be scrapped from 1 April. However, several conditions still apply. Passengers need to be fully vaccinated, tested negative for the virus no more than 48 hours before boarding. They should have a valid booking at a quarantine hotel too.

The quarantine period for passengers arriving from overseas countries will also be shortened to seven days from 14 days if they have negative rapid test results on the sixth and seventh days. The flight ban was introduced on 8 January due to the spread of Omicron variants. Anyone who has been to these countries in the past 14 days is also not allowed to board a flight to the city.

In addition to the flight ban, Lam also announced that social-distancing rules will be relaxed in three phases starting from 21 April. In the first phase, many types of operations will be allowed to reopen, including gyms, religious places, and sports venues. Groups will be capped at four people. Restaurants will be allowed to offer dine-in service until 10pm with four diners allowed per table. Currently, restaurants can only offer dine-in services until 6pm, with two people per table.

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