Chief Administrative Secretary Matthew Cheung said that as of Sunday (3/1), more than 700 penalty tickets or fines had been awarded to members of the public on Christmas and New Year’s Day, for violating social distancing rules imposed to reduce the spread of Covid-19, Tuesday (05/1/2021). Among the 700 people who were fined were Migrant Domestic Workers.
The Hong Kong No. 2 official said, although the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus appears to be decreasing, it is likely that the infection rate may increase after the Christmas and New Year holidays, and the situation will be more worrying.
In his blog post Cheung urged residents to “discipline themselves and be able to work together,” to stick to anti-epidemic rules and follow government calls to protect the health of themselves, their families and friends, and the community.
The Principal Secretary also asked the public to be “active” in getting vaccinated, adding that the government would be “open and transparent” to ensure the public can have the vaccine information they need.
The Center for Health Protection (CHP) also announced that there was one confirmed transmission and ten initial positive cases of coronavirus at a building site in the Tseung Kwan O-Lam Tin tunnel. This is the second outbreak at the site in a month. CHP has ordered all workers to be tested, and the construction project is suspended.
Minister of Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee on Monday (4/1) also announced that the current health protocol or social distancing measures would be extended until January 20, and reported 53 new cases of which 43 were locally acquired and six were contracted from unknown sources, bringing the number of Covid-19 cases in HK to 9018.
