HK mahjong parlors and game centres to reopen

Venues will be allowed to reopen from September 11.

Hong Kong.- Mahjong parlours and game centres will be able to reopen on September 11 as Hong Kong relaxes some pandemic lockdown measures.

In a press conference, Sophia Chan, secretary for food and health in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) said the government would also allow gatherings of up to four people.

Amusement game centres, places of public entertainment, mahjong-tin kau premises and sports premises will be allowed to reopen.

Some museums, performance venues and public libraries will reopen gradually from September 14. Nightclubs and swimming pools will remain closed until the next phase.

The new phase will last at least seven days. The number of cases of Covid-19 diagnosed in the city has fallen. Only 6 new cases were reported on Tuesday.

Professor Chan said the reopening of activities must be done gradually.

She said: “Not only are we considering the epidemic situation, we are also considering the necessity of the activities as well as whether they are essential to daily life, and also the infection risks that can be substantially reduced by enhancing disease prevention and control measures.

“We also look into the activities themselves, whether it is a mask-off activity and mask off for how long, and so on and so forth.”

The HKSAR government said Hong Kong is in discussion with 11 countries to launch travel bubbles. The countries include Germany, Japan and Thailand.

The secretary for commerce and economic development, Edward Yau, said a date had not been set for the bubbles to be implemented as it depended on each country agreeing on protocol.

He said: “The timetable for creating a travel bubble would be a matter of striking a bilateral agreement between Hong Kong and the partnering country. It all depends on how ready and how comfortable both parties are with the situation.”