Hong Kong’s traditional Lunar New Year flower markets will be open for the festive period but with crowd-control measures, officials have said in a U-turn over an earlier decision to ban the annual event amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee announced the reversal on Tuesday, nearly two weeks after the event was called off as Covid-19 cases spiked, and said the government had to balance fighting the health crisis with the public’s demand for flowers and preparations made by farmers.
“With all these new measures that we have identified ... plus the reduction in the number of stalls, we believe that we have tried our best to lower the infection risk,” she said.