Hong Kong Curbs Private Gatherings With Tightest Covid Rules Yet

(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong will limit gatherings in private homes for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began, in an attempt to keep residents from socializing as it fights an outbreak that risks dashing its strategy of keeping out the virus long term.

The city will limit multi-household gatherings on private premises to two families starting Thursday, but authorities won’t go door-to-door to check if the rule is being followed. It will also restrict public gatherings to two people, down from four currently, and expand the list of venues where entry is limited to those who are vaccinated to shopping malls, food markets and hair salons.

“Now given this severe epidemic, I hope the public will accept that we have to go back to the most stringent level,” Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Tuesday.

Authorities are turning to increasingly strict measures to try and tame an outbreak fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant that’s seen cases doubling every few days. Hong Kong reported a record 625 new Covid infections on Tuesday, a significant increase for a city that had gone months with no community transmission and which continues to target a Covid Zero strategy, in line with China’s approach. 

While the mainland is resorting to fresh lockdowns to suppress the virus, officials in Hong Kong indicated they’ll steer clear of such measures in the notoriously dense city, even as they remain committed to a pandemic policy that’s leaving the financial hub increasingly isolated. The ballooning case numbers have put the city’s health-care system under severe strain, with long lineups for testing and a constantly shifting approach to quarantine facilities. 

The current outbreak has reached a level that’s rarely been quashed by any other city. Mainland China, which deploys lockdowns and mass testing at a scale that Hong Kong can’t match, hasn’t faced a surge of this magnitude since it stamped out infection in Wuhan in early 2020. The same year, Australia’s Melbourne contained an outbreak that reached similar heights with a strict lockdown that confined residents to their homes for three months.

Read more: China Urges Hong Kong to Stick to Covid Zero as Infections Climb

It’s unclear how Hong Kong can achieve the same level of success as it pushes forward with its Covid Zero pledge without similarly stringent lockdowns. And the decision to not actively track private gatherings -- the main source of the current surge in infections -- may render that measure essentially ineffective. Authorities said they would only take enforcement action if they can trace positive cases back to such a gathering, or suspect there’s been a breach, though they didn’t outline the penalty.

“I hope we all realize that the time has come for Hong Kong to take some tough measures,” Lam said. “Every measure that we now introduce has been undertaken in another jurisdiction including some places and countries which are very proud of their human rights and their democracy so on, because this is about human life.” 

The focus on local measures comes after a crackdown on overseas arrivals aimed at alleviating pressure on the city’s virus infrastructure. The government continues to restrict inbound flights from eight countries including the U.K., the U.S. and Australia, and imposes two-week bans on flights that bring in too many positive cases. 

Other onerous measures on arrivals include mandatory 14-day quarantine, down from 21 days. A recent mass cull of pet hamsters suspected of bringing the delta variant to the city also prompted widespread outcry and questions from health experts as to its necessity.

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