Stricter Pandemic Restrictions Possible, Says Govt

Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung said on Sunday that the government will not hesitate to introduce even stricter social distancing measures if the city's coronavirus crisis deteriorates further.

Cheung said at this stage the administration has no plans to implement a "lockdown", but he appealed to people to stay at home as far as possible in the next two weeks.

Writing on his blog, he also said that the central government is concerned about the ongoing Covid-19 outbreaks in the SAR, with several hundred new cases reported in the past week.

Cheung said Beijing has responded positively to the Chief Executive's request for help in increasing testing capacity as well in creating a temporary hospital in Hong Kong to help house infected people.

Asia-World Expo has been touted as a possible site for such a hospital, with a newly created temporary quarantine centre there already housing scores of elderly people from care homes hit by Covid-19 outbreaks.

There have now been more than 2,500 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Hong Kong, with 18 fatalities.