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Coronavirus: Easter weekend nets Hong Kong HK$5 million in social-distancing fines; 7 new cases logged, 4 imported
- Nearly 1,000 city residents received fixed-penalty tickets for flouting Covid-19 rules over the five-day holiday
- Recent prevalence of imported cases has led to calls to ban flights from countries such as the Philippines and India
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Hong Kong police and government officers issued a total of HK$5 million (US$643,000) in fines to 980 residents over breaches of social-distancing rules in a sweep that began on the eve of the five-day Easter break.
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News of the crackdown emerged as the city confirmed seven more Covid-19 cases on Tuesday – three locally transmitted and the rest imported – amid calls for officials to consider banning flights from high-risk countries to protect against new coronavirus variants.
With the recent prevalence of imported cases, health experts said the government should weigh the impact on Hong Kong families wanting to hire domestic helpers if they needed to consider suspending flights from countries such as the Philippines.
Police accounted for the lion’s share of the fines handed out over the weekend, issuing 959 fixed-penalty notices. But the Leisure and Cultural Services Department also gave out more than 14,000 verbal warnings in addition to issuing 21 fines of its own during patrols of venues looking for breaches of social-distancing rules.
The Easter sweep involved raids on illegal gambling premises, restaurants, unlicensed bars and party rooms, according to police, with about 48 per cent of the fines levied in the Kowloon West region.
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In December, the penalty for flouting Hong Kong’s Covid-19 regulations on public gatherings, wearing masks and mandatory testing was increased from HK$2,000 to HK$5,000 (US$260 to US$640).
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