Spike in virus cases blamed on bars and restaurants as government mulls re-tightening restrictions

Authorities are reportedly considering the re-closure of bars following a recent increase in COVID-19 cases, including a number linked to a Tsim Sha Tsui pub.

At least nine cases have been recorded at China Secret, where a number of hostesses from Thailand are believed to be working illegally and therefore making the process of contact tracing harder. Sources indicate that the hostesses may also be working at bars in other districts, according to the South China Morning Post.

Yuen Kwok-yung, a microbiologist from the University of Hong Kong and a member of the government’s coronavirus response team, said restaurant and bars have not been been diligent enough in enforcing restrictions and minimizing the risk of infection.

“Relaxing policies is not a problem. The problem is whether adequate preventive measures are taken at [these] high-risk places,” Yuen said.

Early reports indicate 17 new cases on Thursday, which if confirmed, would be the highest in almost three weeks.

Authorities shut bars in mid-July to combat the third COVID-19 wave. They reopened last month, a welcome relief to bars whose risks of going out of business were compounding by the day. Under the coronavirus restrictions, bars can only sit two people to a table and operate at 50% capacity, but there is doubt about how widely these measures are being enforced.

There have also been a growing number of cases linked to schools and a residential care home, as well as an increase in patients with untraceable infections.

Experts and authorities warn that Hong Kong’s fourth COVID-19 wave could come earlier than expected.

“What we have learned from the last nine months of Covid-19 is that when we have infections locally and we are not doing much social distancing, numbers will tend to go up from week to week,” Benjamin Cowling, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Hong Kong, told local media.

At a press conference Wednesday, Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection, said the rise in untraceable cases is worrying and that there “may be a rebound.”