Hong Kong will detail relaxed social distancing rules Tuesday

[HONG KONG] Hong Kong's leader said the city will announce a further relaxation of coronavirus-related social distancing rules later Tuesday, as the financial hub continues to see success in containing the spread of Covid-19.

The city's top health official Sophia Chan will release full details after a meeting of the city's advisory Executive Council, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said at a weekly briefing.

"We have to strike a balance between at least three main factors -- one is of course the public health concerns, secondly is the impact on the economy, thirdly is the tolerance of the people," she said Tuesday. "If you continue to keep these measures in place, people become intolerant. So they will not comply with these regulations."

Existing social distancing measures, including limiting public gatherings to eight people and restrictions at restaurants, are due to expire Thursday.

The South China Morning Post newspaper has reported the city would loosen a restriction on group gatherings, citing unidentified people.

Hong Kong has been a rare global success story in containing the spread of Covid-19, with its stream of new cases down to a trickle. The city of around 7.5 million people -- roughly the same as New York City's population -- has seen only 1,100 cases and just four deaths from the virus, with most residents still wearing surgical masks even as life slowly returns to normal.

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But it has also been rocked by renewed unrest in recent weeks amid China's passage of new national security legislation for the city that has raised concerns about basic freedoms and its future autonomy from the mainland.

Protesters say Hong Kong's government is using the social distancing measures to prevent them from gathering. Hundreds of people defied the restrictions and rallied in Central last week to mark the first anniversary of the mass pro-democracy marches that engulfed the city last year. Thousands more came together for an annual June 4 vigil commemorating Beijing's 1989 crackdown on activists in Tiananmen Square.

May visitor arrivals to the city fell 99.9 per cent on-year to 8,139, the Hong Kong Tourism Board said Monday.

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