on 2 Dec 2020
Hong Kong has set up a hotline for residents to report parties aboard yachts and rented party boats as the city beefs up social-distancing rules to contain a surge of virus cases.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam told a weekly news briefing Tuesday ahead of a meeting of her advisory Executive Council that some people were hosting rule-breaking gatherings at sea, according to media reports.
Already nightclubs and karaoke parlours are closing as a result of the new round of restrictions.
Holding parties aboard rented “junks” in Hong Kong’s iconic harbor and off outlying islands is a favourite weekend pastime.
“The reporting hotline newly set up is there because we see that, after party rooms and karaoke parlors have been made to close, there are a number of people who organize events at sea,” Bloomberg reported Lam as saying. “We want to target such a breach.”
The local police force has also posted on Facebook calling on residents to alert them to parties at sea.