Tighter CNY COVID-19 Measures Like 8 Visitors Per Household Per Day Will Continue for a Few Weeks

If there’s one thing we’ve learned in 2020 and 2021, it’s that having any sort of expectations will just lead to disappointment.

Whether it’s expecting leisure travel to return or large parties to become legal again, such expectations will likely not be met for a long time.

For instance, everyone likely expected the additional restrictions on visitors to be relaxed once Chinese New Year ended, but surprise, surprise, this will not be the case.

But if you understand how the virus operates, you’ll know that this move makes complete sense.

Tighter CNY COVID-19 Measures Will Continue After CNY for a Few Weeks

As Education Minister Lawrence said, the coronavirus has an “incubation time”.

So, the fact that there are a low number of community cases now, during CNY, doesn’t mean anything.

In fact, it can take up to 14 days after infection for cases to show symptoms. And of course, some people won’t exhibit symptoms at all.

This incubation period is the reason the authorities have chosen to keep the tighter CNY Covid-19 measures in place for the next few weeks.

“We will monitor one, two, a few weeks after the New Year celebrations and festivities are over,” Mr Wong said.

“If the situation remains stable and under control, we will review and we will consider the measures again and see whether or not there is scope for us to adjust.”

Mr Wong said they introduced the additional restrictions because the number of community cases rose after the festive period last year.

It was only in the third week of January that we observed the spike; there were 21 new cases in the community, up from three the week before.

He hopes that with the additional restrictions, the same trend won’t be observed after CNY.

Limit of 8 Visitors Per Day

For those who don’t know and have been secretly having 20 visitors a day, the authorities introduced more restrictions before the CNY period.

The one which drew the most groans was the cap of 8 distinct visitors per household per day.

Simply put, this means you can’t have one group of 8 relatives over in the morning, and another group of 8 in the evening.

Individuals should also limit themselves to visiting at most two other households a day, and visit family members only.

Residents were also advised to wear their masks when visiting others.

As for whether these measures are enough to curb transmission of the disease, we’ll only be able to tell in a few weeks.

Until then, let’s stick to the rules and complain about it to our friend and family like we normally do.

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