BBQ sites to reopen starting Nov 3, restriction on restaurants' opening hours to be lifted

Starting Thursday next week (Nov 3), Hong Kong's public barbecue sites will gradually reopen, and the restrictions on the opening hours of restaurants and other premises will be lifted, health authorities announced Thursday. 

The mask mandate during photo-taking sessions at hotels, religious venues, and sports centers will also be scrapped, meaning photographers can finally capture couples' happy faces at weddings. 

Still, Under Secretary for Health Libby Lee Ha-yun said wearing a mask is still necessary. She believed the mandate would remain for a while and warned lifting the order may see a detrimental rebound of flu cases. 

On another note, Lee also explained the rationale behind Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau officially invalidating about 20,000 suspected fraudulent vaccine exemptions and said there are “urgent needs” to make the move. 

“The government decided not to file an appeal against the High Court's ruling two days ago and went directly for law amendment … because the anti-pandemic work is of emergent nature,” Lee told reporters. 

“Comparing with the time and public resources spent on filing an appeal, we believe amending the law directly fits Hongkongers' interest the most.” 

Last Friday, the High Court ruled that Lo didn't have the legal powers to void those vaccine exemptions, and very soon, the government amended the law to empower the health chief to do so. The exemptions will become invalid starting November 9, Lo announced yesterday. 

Lee continued that affected doctors can submit a written explanation to Lo as to why Lo's move shouldn't affect the exemptions they issued. She called on citizens to undergo clinical assessments again to see if they really are unfit for receiving Covid-19 jabs. 

Among affected citizens, 11 percent have received their first Covid shot, and 800 have already collected a new one. 

She noted that it would be risky for authorities to relax the current “0+3” measure to the “0+0” measure, citing the rising number of imported cases. 

Hong Kong reported 6,062 new Covid-19 infections on Thursday, including 375 imported cases, and added eight more deaths.