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Coronavirus: Hong Kong extends stricter social-distancing measures, flight ban on 8 countries through Lunar New Year, will provide HK$3.57 billion in subsidies to hard-hit businesses
- Measures announced by Chief Executive Carrie Lam will last through the Lunar New Year holiday season and put a damper on festivities
- Flight ban currently imposed on Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Britain and the United States will also be extended to February 4
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Key points:
– Social-distancing rules to be extended until February 4, including restaurant dine-in ban after 6pm and closure of 15 types of premises
– Flight bans imposed on Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Britain and the United States will also be extended until February 4
– Fifth round of subsidies worth HK$3.57 billion to help hard-hit industries
Hong Kong is extending its bans on evening dine-in services and flights from hard-hit countries for another two weeks as it battles the fifth wave of the coronavirus pandemic, while also throwing a HK$3.57 billion (US$457.7 million) lifeline to businesses struggling to cope.
The measures announced by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Friday, confirming earlier reports by the Post, will last through the Lunar New Year holiday season and put a damper on festivities amid a worrying outbreak of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the virus.
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