- Owners ordered to shut up shop for two weeks, from Friday
- The city has 935 confirmed infections, some of them linked to the newly targeted venues
Hong Kong beauty and massage parlours have been ordered to close for 14 days from Friday, the government announced on Wednesday, after three of them were linked to confirmed Covid-19 cases.
In addition, an earlier ban on gatherings of more than four people at public venues such as restaurants has been extended until April 23. Hong Kong reported 21 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, bringing the city's total to 935.
Meanwhile, television station TVB announced its annual Miss Hong Kong Beauty Pageant would be cancelled this year, the first time in 48 years the event will not go ahead.
Sandy Yu Wing-shan, a member of TVB's management and the event's organiser, said in an interview with local media the decision was made so contestants who returned from abroad or mainland China would not have to take the risk of travelling during the pandemic.
Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee told a press briefing on Tuesday she hoped the new round of closures, along with the extended ones, could "effectively break the transmission chain of the virus".
Four people working in at least three beauty parlours have been confirmed with Covid-19. No confirmed infections are known to be linked to massage parlours.
The extended measures come as the government is also expected to announce more than HK$30 billion for an anti-epidemic fund to subsidise the wages of workers in affected industries.
The new closures add to an existing shutdown order issued last Thursday to nightclubs, bars and pubs, along with cinemas, fitness centres and game halls.
Those who breach the order will face the prospect of a HK$50,000 (US$6,450) fine and six months in jail.
Boris Johnson's health creates unprecedented power vacuum
Chan urged residents to cooperate with the government measures, adding that other premises not included under the closures were not without risk and people should maintain social distancing.
Tang Ka-piu of the pro-establishment Federation of Trade Unions told RTHK that the increasing list of shuttered venues was making city residents nervous, as "no one knows when their industry could become the next target of closures".
"Subsidising workers' wages is a welcome move, but the measures should cover workers who did not benefit from the last round of aid," he said.
Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions chairperson Carol Ng Man-yee said the first round of anti-epidemic relief measures from the government had too narrow a scope and only benefited a small share of workers.
"The first round of measures was selective and only targeted some industries," she said. "Some restaurant managers still put chefs on unpaid leave, even after receiving the subsidies."
Ng added: "By our count, only 6 to 7 per cent of workers actually benefited from the relief measures. Those actually facing unemployment and unpaid leave have been left out."
Copyright (c) 2020. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
