October 11, 2022
HONG KONG – The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government has renewed its call on hotels, guest houses, club houses, entertainment game centers and their customers to comply with relevant regulations to prevent and control the pandemic situation in through the detection of two new variants of COVID-19
The city detected cases related to the new subvariants, BA.2.75.2 and XBB.1, imported from abroad on Monday when it registered 4,874 new infections.
In a statement issued late Monday, the Home Affairs Department (HAD) said the Office of Licensing Authority (OLA) continued to step up inspections of OLA-licensed facilities and took strict enforcement action against facility operators, staff and customers in facilities that defy anti-epidemic regulations.
All trades are reminded to exercise self-discipline and abide by the rules to fight the virus together.
Spokesperson, Department of Internal Affairs, HKSAR
During the inspection from September 26 to October 9, officials initiated legal proceedings against a clubhouse and fined three staff members and customers. During this time period, they also inspected 121 hotels, 107 guesthouses, and 39 entertainment game centers.
The authorities demanded that the clubhouse found with irregularities take the corresponding measures to reduce the risk of transmission, according to the statement.
The government had earlier announced the relaxation of certain social distancing measures, including increasing the maximum number of people per table for catering venues from eight to 12, relaxing restrictions on all activities in scheduled venues capped at the number of people per group from eight to 12 and the maximum number of people per table for bars, pubs, discos, discos from four to six, and the maximum number of people for banquets in restaurants is increased from 120 to 240.
Licensees, customers and guests must still strictly comply with certain anti-pandemic measures. Customers of catering venues participating in a catering activity must also comply with the rapid antigen test requirement, according to a HAD spokesperson.
“All trades are reminded to exercise self-discipline and comply with regulations to fight the virus together,” the statement read, adding that HAD will continue to strengthen its publicity efforts and enforcement actions.
