They’re stretching the definition of the word “gathering.”
Hong Kong is limiting public gatherings to two people among a host of new COVID lockdown measures, the Associated Press reported.
More than 1,000 new coronavirus cases have been reported in the city since Nov. 17, according to the AP. Hong Kong has recorded only about 6,300 infections since the beginning of the pandemic, making the recent numbers a dramatic increase by its standards.
The lockdown rules begin Wednesday, the Hong Kong Free Press reported. They require all civil servants to work from home and also include shutdowns of many businesses and a 10 p.m. restaurant curfew.
Certain gatherings, such as weddings and shareholder meetings, can include up to 20 people, according to the AP. But religious events and group travel lost their exemptions in the new protocols.
Nearly 1.5 million people have died from COVID-19 worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins data. Only 109 of those people have been in Hong Kong, which has a population of 7.5 million.
