Hong Kong preparing to reopen public facilities, says Carrie Lam

[HONG KONG] Hong Kong announced plans to reopen government offices and some public facilities, as chief executive Carrie Lam took cautious steps to get the city back to work amid the threat of further coronavirus outbreaks and fresh political protests.

Government employees will start returning to offices on May 4 and the city is preparing to open facilities including museums and libraries that have been closed during the pandemic, Ms Lam said on Tuesday. The authorities have yet to decide whether to extend social distancing measures beyond May 7, she said, as the city continues to see success containing daily cases.

"When we relax these measures, if the need arises, we may need to tighten them again until there is a vaccine developed," she said at a briefing before a meeting of her advisory Executive Council.

The move to reopen came the same day New Zealand emerged from nearly five weeks of strict nationwide lockdown, offering a return to work for up to half a million people. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern lowered the alert level to 3, allowing workers to return to factories and construction sites and takeaway food outlets to reopen and fuelling hopes that economic activity will pick up,though many restrictions remain in place.

NEW PROTESTS

The outbreak of Covid-19 and the government's subsequent social distancing restrictions have, over the past few months, largely suppressed pro-democracy protests that rocked the Asian financial hub last year. But as virus cases ease, activists have begun organising new demonstrations, defying the measures.

A protest of some 100 people on Friday ended peacefully at a central shopping mall, while another two days later was dispersed by police after the authorities warned demonstrators they would be in violation of rules barring groups of more than four people.

Last week, Hong Kong extended social distancing measures for an additional 14 days, with Ms Lam saying it was "not the time to let down our guard". Many protesters fear that her China-backed government may be keeping restrictions in place in a bid to suppress political unrest.

The city has contained the spread of the virus through a mix of early social distancing measures starting in late January, travel restrictions, contact tracing and mandatory quarantines.

It reported zero daily new cases for four of the last eight days and hasn't seen a virus-related death since mid-March. Nearly all of the newer infections were found in people with a recent travel history.

Hong Kong's residents - scarred by the severe acute respiratory syndrome, or Sars, crisis that killed 299 people in the city 17 years ago - also played their part, taking early precautions including wearing surgical masks.

Hong Kong's success in controlling the virus stands in stark contrast to many other urban centres around the world, including Singapore, which has struggled to stop an outbreak from spreading through crowded migrant worker dormitories.

BLOOMBERG