London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Hong Kong Covid-19 caseload falls to 12, lowest in three months

Hong Kong Covid-19 caseload falls to 12, lowest in three months

About 640,000 Hongkongers have also downloaded government’s Covid-19 risk exposure app, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung says.

Hong Kong confirmed 12 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the fewest in about three months, but authorities said the drop could be due to reduced testing over the holiday and warned hidden transmission chains remained in the community.

Two of the infections were untraceable, while two others were imported involving arrivals from Britain and the Philippines, according to the Centre for Health Protection. Fewer than 10 people tested preliminary-positive. The overall tally of confirmed cases stood at 10,767, while the number of related fatalities stood at 193, including a 60-year-old man who succumbed to the disease on Friday night. The city recorded 12 cases on November 19, and nine cases on November 18.

Health officials urged residents to stay vigilant, saying fewer tests were being carried out over the Lunar New Year period.

“Although the number of new cases recorded is relatively low, it could be related to many clinics being closed and some people being reluctant to visit a doctor during the Lunar New Year holiday,” said Director of Health Dr Constance Chan Hon-yee.

Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung earlier said the pandemic would be deemed under control when the city’s daily infection tally was confined to the single digits, allowing the border with mainland China and many local businesses to reopen.

More than 640,000 Hongkongers have downloaded the government’s Covid-19 risk exposure app with a fresh surge in sign-ups likely, he said.

Health authorities this week announced that social-distancing rules could be relaxed after Lunar New Year from February 18 if the coronavirus situation in Hong Kong remained stable.

The plan would allow restaurants to offer dine-in service later into the night with four people to a table, while gyms, cinemas and other premises could reopen.

But operators would have to follow new measures to prevent the spread of the disease, including requiring patrons to scan a QR code for the app or provide their personal details.

As he sought to reassure the public over privacy issues, Cheung told a radio show that 644,000 people, or about 8.6 per cent of the city’s population, had installed the “Leave Home Safe” app, up from around 470,000 people in early February.

“This is a good indicator and shows more residents are gradually downloading it. I believe there will still be a surge in the next few days,” he said.

But leaders in industries such as catering have raised concerns over the implementation of the new rules, saying businesses were not law enforcement agencies and questioning how they would handle customers who refused to cooperate.

Matthew Cheung, Hong Kong’s chief secretary.


Cheung urged the public not to worry too much about the system’s implementation, predicting cultural change within the community surrounding anti-contagion measures would take time.

“The government is not trying to know what residents are doing. We just want to know who was present at the venues at a specific time,” he said.

The contact-tracing app allows users to scan a QR code at different locations to voluntarily log their movements in support of the city’s fight against the virus. It notifies users if a person confirmed as infected has recently visited those places.

Cheung appealed to residents to stay vigilant in guarding against the virus during what he called a critical few days over Lunar New Year.

“Even if we can’t reach zero cases, when we can get to a very low figure, a single-digit figure for infections in a stable manner … that means the pandemic is under control. Under such a situation, we will have the conditions to reopen our borders and to allow many venues to resume their operations,” he said.

Asked if vaccination could be a condition for allowing easier travel to the mainland and other destinations, Cheung said he would not rule out the idea, but the key was whether it was acceptable to the Chinese government.

On Thursday, representatives from the tourism sector and local delegates to the National People’s Congress said they had urged the central and local governments to allow Hongkongers to take day trips to the mainland to be inoculated without having to undergo quarantine.

Addressing the calls, Cheung said the proposal’s feasibility would also depend on the views of authorities over the border.

On Covid-19 restrictions for restaurants, Liberal Party lawmaker Tommy Cheung Yu-yan, representing the catering sector, was cautiously optimistic that dine-in services at night could resume soon.

The legislator said he hoped the government could list food and beverage workers as one of the priority groups for receiving jabs.

Another pro-Beijing lawmaker Alice Mak Mei-kuen, from the Federation of Trade Unions, suggested the city set up an indicator system to support businesses as they negotiated the crisis.

“When a certain number of people in the population have been inoculated, then social-distancing measures can be relaxed. Or when staff members of a premises get vaccinated, then the business could operate longer service hours,” she said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×