Hong Kong Plans More Covid Easing as Lee Heads to Xi Meeting

Kari Lindberg
·2 min read
4

(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong will further ease social distancing measures, including rules on banquets, ahead of a trip by the city’s leader to Beijing.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Details of the relaxation will be provided at a briefing by health officials at 3 p.m. local time on Tuesday. Chief Executive John Lee said at a press conference he will head to the capital for a duty visit from Wednesday to Saturday and will report the latest situation on Covid and the economy to President Xi Jinping.

Last week Hong Kong scrapped some of its last remaining Covid restrictions following China’s rapid shift away from a zero-tolerance approach. Such curbs have hobbled the city’s economy and hurt its outlook as a financial hub. There are growing expectations for the border with the mainland to reopen next month for the first time in three years.

Lee said he will explain what he has done to control Covid while at the same ensuring the economy can be strengthened.

Hong Kong still has a number of rules in place to limit the spread of Covid, including restrictions on the numbers of diners per table at bars and restaurants as well as group gatherings. Masks have to be worn in public places, arrivals are subject to PCR tests, while anyone going to a bar needs to show a negative rapid antigen test. Current rules stipulate that a maximum of 240 people can attend banquets.

The easing comes as Hong Kong battles a wave of infections. The city reported more than 15,000 new daily cases on Monday and 39 deaths.

Hong Kong Seeks to Prove It Can Still Be ‘Asia’s World City’

Lee also said the government will talk to Alphabet Inc.’s Google about its search results for the city’s national anthem, saying it was a serious matter. A search for the city’s anthem brings up articles and videos about Glory to Hong Kong, the unofficial song of the mass protests that rocked the financial hub in 2019, ahead of China’s March of the Volunteers.

Google doesn’t “manually manipulate” its search results, it said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg News, adding that they continue to engage and explain how their platform works to the authorities.

Hong Kong passed a law in June 2020 that imposed a prison sentence of up to three years for people convicted of insulting or denigrating the anthem.

(Updates to add Google comments in the eighth paragraph)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.