Hong Kong will limit public gatherings to two people and close sites such as churches and hair salons, leader Carrie Lam has said, as the financial hub battles a growing coronavirus outbreak that has caused record infections.
Existing social distancing measures will be extended to 24 February, Ms Lam told a media briefing. These include a ban on dining in restaurants after 6pm and the closure of gyms and cinemas. Chinese scientists say new virus test gives results within minutes Chinese scientists say they have developed a new coronavirus test that is accurate as a PCR lab test but gives results within four minutes.
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests are widely considered the most accurate and sensitive for the virus that causes Covid-19, but they usually take several hours.
Some countries have experienced severe backlogs in the face of heavy testing demand, fuelled by the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.