London Daily

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

Hong Kong to ease curbs on religious, sports activities, 10 new Covid-19 cases recorded

Hong Kong to ease curbs on religious, sports activities, 10 new Covid-19 cases recorded

Professor David Hui says construction worker’s untraceable infection means time is not right to raise limit on number of people who can meet from four.

Hong Kong’s four-person limit on public groups is expected to be retained when the government’s de facto cabinet reviews anti-pandemic measures on Tuesday, but larger gatherings for religious activities and contact sports will be allowed again.

The city recorded 10 new Covid-19 infections on Monday, the first double-digit increase in more than a week of improving figures, even as the global total of coronavirus-related deaths crossed the grim milestone of 1 million, according to some counts.

A source familiar with the situation told the Post that current social-distancing rules were “very unlikely” to be ditched, as local transmissions of unknown origin were still being found in the community.

However, minor tweaks were likely, including exemptions for religious gatherings and contact sports such as basketball and football, with games to be played without masks, a shift backed by at least one government public health adviser.

It is understood the Home Affairs Bureau spent weeks lobbying for changes to the rules governing sports activities as the pandemic eased locally, but the final decision will be hammered out at Tuesday’s meeting of the Executive Council, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s cabinet.

Some fee-charging public venues for team sports, including football pitches, cricket grounds and indoor basketball courts, have already been open since September 18. Masks were earlier no longer required for strenuous outdoor exercise.

Others, however, including outdoor basketball courts run by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, remain closed due to a lack of staff to enforce social-distancing measures.

Hong Kong third wave

Tracking the spread of local Covid-19 cases



Last Friday, Lam declared Hong Kong’s third wave of Covid-19 under control, saying the city had “basically contained” a months-long rush of infections after a “hard-fought battle”, while acknowledging the lingering threat presented by infections with unknown sources.

On Monday, the daily coronavirus caseload ticked up slightly, though that was driven largely by imported infections, with seven of the cases originating abroad. The three others were locally transmitted but linked to previous patients. The imported cases included travellers from India, France and Britain, as well as a five-month-old baby arriving from Argentina.

Meanwhile, the Legislative Council’s Finance Committee approved the government’s HK$24 billion (US$3.1 billion) third round of anti-pandemic funding, which includes money for the expansion of quarantine facilities and the eventual purchase of coronavirus vaccines, as well as a cash injection for hard-hit industries such as tourism and catering.


Hong Kong last recorded double-digit infections on September 20, when 23 cases were logged. The latest figures took the city’s official tally to 5,075, with 105 related deaths.

Among Sunday’s new cases was a 22-year-old construction worker whose infection came from an unknown source. One of his colleagues was among the three newest confirmed cases.

On Monday, Professor David Hui Shu-cheong said he believed the untraceable infection meant now was not the right time to further ease social-distancing measures.

“As we just had an infection with an untraceable source, we need to observe and make sure no other chains of transmission appear,” Hui said on a radio programme. “So, I do not think it is the right time to lift the limit on public gatherings.”

While the construction site case shared similarities with a previous cluster of infections at the Kwai Tsing Container Terminal, where an outbreak appeared among dock workers who shared a common room, Hui said it was less likely a similar situation would emerge in this instance.

“The construction site is a much smaller area, and nine of the worker’s colleagues have already been sent to quarantine,” he said.

But while cautioning against a broad lifting of restrictions, Hui added he believed the government could consider allowing the resumption of religious activities, with limits on the number of people permitted to gather.

Hui said Hong Kong students in Britain should not rush to travel home ahead of the country joining the city’s high-risk list on Thursday, as policies and treatment there had improved since the beginning of the pandemic.

Separately, a research team from the University of Hong Kong found during a site visit to four wet markets that most fish stalls in three of those places provided a towel or piece of cloth that multiple customers would use to wipe their hands after touching and choosing the fish.

Infectious disease expert Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, who also advises the government on the coronavirus, suggested single-use napkins be used instead to avoid cross-infections.

A number of wet markets were hit by coronavirus outbreaks during the city’s third wave, with the largest cluster at a Hung Hom market with 13 infections.

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
×