Disneyland To Reopen At Reduced Capacity

The magic is back after a two-month break, but there will be fewer visitors and social distancing measures will be in place.

Hong Kong Disneyland announced on Tuesday that the theme park will reopen on Friday after it was shut down in July because of the third wave of coronavirus infections.

Disneyland said initially it will open five days a week and be closed on Tuesdays and Thursdays, unless they fall on a public holiday.

It'll also operate at a reduced capacity as required by the government, without specifying.

The government announced last week that theme parks could reopen their doors to the public as part of the further easing of social distancing measures. Ocean Park reopened last Friday and resumed operations at 25 percent of its capacity, with plans to raise it to 50 percent later.

Hong Kong Disneyland also said only visitors who have made reservations online will be allowed in. People can book their visit starting from Wednesday, whereas annual pass holders can do so one day earlier, from Tuesday.

Other anti-epidemic measures will be taken, such as requiring guests to make a health declaration and put on masks. And indoor live performances will be suspended for the time being.

With Chief Executive Carrie Lam announcing on Tuesday the extension of existing social distancing measures for a week, one of the government's advisors on Covid-19 said officials must be cautious while considering any possible further relaxation in future.

"I think the government needs a bit more time to assess the situation before further lifting (them)," David Hui of Chinese University said. "In recent days there are also the local cases of unknown source. So I think it's good to see the government being more cautious in lifting the social distancing measures."

He added the government might have learnt a lesson when it eased some of the curbs in June too fast, which some said contributed to the third wave of the outbreak, so this time round officials have been taking a more prudent approach.

"As you can see, when they allowed the dinner time to resume to two (people) per table, it actually took them three weeks to increase the number of people from two to four. So I think the government needs more time to look at the trend of the outbreak to make sure it's actually going down, and also the proportion of unknown source should also go down further before any further lifting."

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