The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government said on March 29 that it will ease some coronavirus restrictions from April 1, allowing more leisure venues to open and shortening the quarantine period for some international arrivals, as the pandemic has been kept under control in recent weeks.

According to the government, swimming pools and public beaches will reopen from April 1. Cinemas, performance venues and theme parks will receive visitors at a capacity of 75 percent, up from 50 percent. Other social distancing measures are still in place and will be extended to April 14.

Starting April 1, arrivals from Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and other countries and regions considered low risk for COVID-19 infections will undergo mandatory hotel quarantine for only 14 days, instead of the current 21 days. They will also be required to monitor their own health conditions for seven days after the quarantine period is over, and receive COVID-19 tests on the 19th day after arrival.

The same policy applies to those vaccinated and arriving from medium-risk areas from abroad. The quarantine period for people entering Hong Kong from high-risk destinations remains unchanged at 21 days.

The government said it is working with airline companies to arrange charter flights to bring back its citizens from the United Kingdom in mid-April. It is also considering plans to facilitate the return of its citizens from the Chinese mainland by air.

Hong Kong is also negotiating with Singapore to reopen borders under the bilateral Air Travel Bubble agreement.

To boost the city's inoculation rate, people who are involved in catering, education and building industries are encouraged to receive vaccination as an alternative option for taking COVID-19 tests every 14 days, a measure now being widely enforced.

Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection reported seven additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 on March 30, taking the total tally to 11,461. The new cases included one traceable local infection and six imported ones.

Some 475,100 vaccine doses have been administered in Hong Kong under a government inoculation program starting Feb 26, and about 24,600 people have been fully vaccinated.