Hong Kong Continues to Flatten Curve in Eerie Silence

Today's sunset from Wan Chai, with no one walking around outside

Yesterday Hong Kong recorded zero new coronavirus cases, and with such good news, the daily 4.30pm press briefing was cancelled.

However health experts warned that now was not the time to lift restrictions, that there had to be 28 consecutive days of no cases for that to happen first.

Four people who came back to HK were new cases

And then today the city reported four new cases, all of them infected while overseas, and so the counting down of restrictions has to be reset again.

As a result "social-distancing measures" will continue, with bars, karaoke bars, beauty salons, spas, fitness centres and pubs will remain closed, as well as barbecue pits and campsites.

However, starting on Friday, restaurants can have more than 50 percent capacity, as long as tables are at least 1.5 metres apart, or separated by partitions for another 14 days.

Yesterday I visited The Peninsula Hong Kong and was told despite the measures, the hotel's restaurants were busy with local patrons, though not all of its restaurants were open. The iconic Gaddi's which serves contemporary French cuisine had yet to be open since late January and would open next week along with Felix and Chesa.

Social distancing in restaurants will continue for 14 days

Meanwhile in Wan Chai at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong tonight, the Tiffin Lounge was completely shut down as it was a buffet concept, while the coffee shop called Grand Cafe was doing a decent, though quiet business.

All the hotels in the city are offering staycation packages, but how many people would actually take up the offer? Lots of people may still be worried about taking the health risk of staying in a hotel, while others may have lost their jobs or gone on no pay leave and would rather save their money.

From what I've heard from restaurant and hotel people is that they are projecting things to be practically back to normal by June. Even if it were to be OK, the rest of the world will not have flattened their curves to zero, so there probably won't be any overseas visitors coming to Hong Kong anytime soon.

Tiffin Lounge in the Grand Hyatt has completely shut down

It's a tough situation for everyone involved, which means everyone. Around the world.

After I left the Grand Hyatt, I walked towards Admiralty and was shocked to see the streets had no cars; if there were cars they were just parked on the street. It was so easy to cross roads without worrying about vehicles hurtling past.

On the one hand it was surprising and quiet, but the other was sad and eerie.