By The SUN
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| Bars in popular nightspots like Lan Kwai Fong will again fall silent starting today |
The Hong Kong government has again imposed a ban on
live music and dancing, after a cluster of coronavirus cases occurred in the
Starlight Dance Club in Wan Chai.
The new restrictions which take effect today, Nov 22,
will last for five days, or until Nov 26.
At the same time, the planned travel bubble with
Singapore which was originally due to start on Monday, Nov 23, was put off for
two weeks because of the surge in local cases, most of which had no known
source.
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The arrangement would have allowed travelers from
either city to skip the mandatory 14-day quarantine on the other end as long as
they test negative for Covid-19 before departure.
But the two sides agreed that the arrangements for the
travel bubble would automatically be suspended for 15 days if either side reported
an average of five or more local cases per day with no known source, for one
week.
The recent spike in cases in Hong Kong, mostly with
unknown source, appear to have scuppered the deal, at least for now.
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One of the cases that could not be traced to a
previous infection was the index patient in Starlight Dance Club, who tested
positive on Friday, along with 10 others.
In just two days, the total number of cases linked to
the club had ballooned to 32, and health officials fear there could be many
more, as teachers and students who went to the club visited 13 others during
the incubation period.
Meanwhile, the re-imposition of the ban on live music
was met with dismay by Hong Kong musicians, who mostly just got back to work
starting on Oct 30, when the government decided to further relax its
restriction on gatherings in pubs and clubs.
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Before this, the musicians were off-work for about six
months, starting from when an outbreak of Covid-19 cases that began in Insomnia
bar in late March caused the authorities to close down all bars, and along with
it, live music.
The musicians, as well as bar owners, had hoped the
new restrictions would cover only dancing and not live music, which does not
necessarily involve musicians getting close to patrons and other people inside
the venue.
According to a press statement by the Food and Health
Bureau, the following will take place immediately:
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(1) Live performance and dancing must not be allowed
in any catering premises (including bars or pubs) as well as clubs or
nightclubs.
(2) Premises (commonly known as party rooms) that are
maintained or intended to be maintained for hire for holding social gatherings
must be closed.
Last week, the government already clamped down on what
it called an increase in mask-off gatherings by requiring restaurants and bars
to close down at midnight, from the previous 2am.
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In addition, restaurants were put back to sitting only
four people to a table, and the bars, to two to a table. Both premises could
only fill up to 50% of their normal capacity.
In announcing the new restrictions, the FHB said: "We
urge the public to stay at home as much as possible, go out less often unless
necessary, and avoid dining out and unnecessary social activities (including
private gatherings, in particular mask-off activities or group gatherings in
indoor premises). At this key moment
when the epidemic situation is worsening, the public should fight the epidemic
together without letting down one's guard and take every possible step to
prevent the virus from continuing to spread in the community.”
“Maintaining good personal and environmental hygiene at all times is key to prevention of infection and the spread of the virus in the community."
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