Criteria for relaxing social distancing measures to be announced on Monday: Carrie Lam

Criteria for relaxing social distancing measures in phases will be announced on Monday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said. 

In her daily press conference on Sunday, Lam said she would like to give the public an idea what the anti-epidemic policies will be like after April 20. Certain controls may be relaxed in phases, if officials are confident there won't be a rebound in cases. 

There will be a “medium-term review” for the measures she announced on February 22, with details to be announced on Monday. 

Back on February 22, Lam said all Hongkongers would have to undergo mandatory Covid-19 tests and students will have to take an early “summer break”, so that schools can be used as testing centers. 

The mass testing will go alongside measures to restrict people's movements, officials have since said, triggering panic buying of food. 

A month since the initial announcement, the government has yet to spell when the testing will begin, and Lam said such testing is not a priority for now. Government advisors suggested doing the test only when the number of Covid-19 cases drops and there is enough manpower and facilities to handle those who test positive. 

On Sunday, Lam stressed that the situation remains serious although the fifth wave of outbreak appears to have peaked and is going downtrend.

"We cannot let our guard down,” she said. 

Relaxation of social distancing rules next month will depend on developments in the pandemic, and she hopes to explain what criteria will be taken into account, she added. 

Lam said the government has conducted more than 250 lockdowns since the fifth wave started, testing some 350,000 people and detecting more than 23,000 preliminary positive cases. 

"Although the number accounted for only 2 to 3 percent of the one million confirmed cases in this city, infections could spread more quickly without timely lockdown," she said. 

She asked citizens who need to undergo quarantine at isolation facilities to cooperate, saying people only stay in such centers for an average of four days for the time being.

At the same time, Lam said the Food and Health Bureau will soon reintroduce mandatory testing notices, requiring those who visited specific venues to get tested. 

"If the authorities noticed multiple confirmed cases in an infected group or building, a notice will be issued and the public can get tested at community testing centers or mobile testing stations. It will help authorities assess the situation in the community.”

She also said the government aims to make sure anti-epidemic supply - beds, rooms and vaccines - are greater than their demand: "Although demand for testing centers has fallen recently, the government will retain the capacity.”

Lam said she is open to reviewing the government's practices after the pandemic, saying there were many reviews after the SARS outbreak in 2003.

"There are a lot of issues to be reviewed, such as the elderly being the main group of deaths in the fifth wave and... the measures in elderly care homes."