Keep Coronavirus Restrictions In Place, Says Expert

A respiratory disease expert advising the government on its coronavirus measures said on Sunday that it's too early for the government to lift its social-distancing restrictions.

Chinese University Professor David Hui said in a television interview that says the measures should stay until next month at the earliest.

Regulations limiting the number of people gathering in a public place to four; the mandatory closures of various businesses like bars, gyms, cinemas and karaokes; along with spacing requirements for local restaurants are all due to expire on Thursday.

Hui said he believes the government will extend all these measures, because it still needs more time to confirm whether the outbreak has indeed been contained here.

The number of new infections have been in single digits for the past week, with all recent infections classified as imported cases.

Professor Hui said the safest thing to do would be to relax the rules – provided that no new local infections emerge in the meantime – on May 7, a full 28 days after the last confirmed local case.

He says the government could also then consider letting all civil servants go back to work, and for schools to reopen.

Hui said whether Hong Kong should also extended its order to have anyone arriving from the mainland to be quarantined for 14 days also depends on the coronavirus situation across the border.

The mainland has been progressively easing restrictions as the number of cases decline.