More Social-Distancing Restrictions Lifted

You can exercise in the gym from Friday but you must wear a mask

Gym rats, rejoice! You can finally go crazy on your workouts grunting loudly or sweating profusely from Friday now that the government has allowed them to reopen.

However -- you will need to wear a mask while you're exercising.

Ha!

Chan also announced dining can be extended until 10pm

Also group classes are limited to four, including the instructor.

Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee made the announcement early this afternoon. Other sports like badminton, table tennis, tennis, and outdoor bowling can be played again, but not squash or swimming. Snooker can now resume, if you consider it a sport.

It looks like the restaurant industry's hard lobbying efforts have worked and now dining establishments can stay open until 10pm. Apparently there were complaints some people finish work late and can't finish eating by 9pm. Perhaps these are people who can't cook and don't want to wash dishes either.

Not all restaurants are happy with the latest announcement because each table is still limited to two people. The other day I saw a family, two parents with a baby and toddler, eat at two separate tables. Very awkward, but they seemed used to this arrangement.

The wife ordered dishes and gave some food to her husband, who was carrying the sleeping baby in a pouch.

Tennis courts can reopen, but not swimming pools

Clubhouses and massage parlours can reopen as well, but basketball courts, football pitches, karaoke bars and mahjong parlours must stay closed.

Hong Kong had eight new coronavirus cases today, the lowest number since July 3 when five cases were recorded.

While relaxing more measures is great news for people who are experiencing serious pandemic fatigue after eight months, one has to wonder again why this is happening when universal testing is happening now?

One would think that it would be best to partially lift measures after the mass testing was completed, but this is happening in tandem, which, from a scientific point of view defeats its purpose.

"If we have to be scientific or to be accurate, you might have to do the test twice in a short period of time with a stay-at-home order, and that is more scientific if you want to go get the data that you use for reference," said Ivan Law, vice chairman of the Hospital Authority Employees' Alliance.

He cited the example of Taiwan that managed to keep the number of coronavirus cases low and economic activities have largely resumed.

Law says the mass testing scheme is not scientific

"I think it's not necessary to do a universal screening program for you to [ease] those restrictions," he said.

The alliance and other medical experts have questioned the need for universal testing, and Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor criticized them for having politically-motivated views aimed at discrediting Beijing.

Law hit back, saying the government should focus on reviewing and improving the scheme instead of hitting back at critics.

It's just more apparent the exercise is not meant to be scientific...  

In the past two days, 278,000 people have been tested, and those tested on the first day have results coming back negative. A total of 798,000 have registered to take part.