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SEVENS TAKING A BACKSEAT The Hong Kong Sevens is the latest sports event to be affected by the coronavirus outbreak. This year’s tournament, the 45th edition, will be moved back to October 16 to 18 despite organisers saying that the event was “all systems go” earlier on in the year. The Sevens joins a long list of sporting events that have been cancelled or postponed by either the protests or the virus outbreak, the most notable of which include the Standard Chartered Marathon and the Longines Masters. For updates, keep an eye on hksevens.com
12 | hongkongliving.com
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Hong Kong residents continue to panic despite government assurances that supplies of toilet paper remain unaffected by the coronavirus outbreak. Supermarkets have been unable to restock quickly enough, leading to long queues and shelves stripped bare. Amidst citywide panic-purchasing, three armed robbers stole hundreds of toilet rolls that were being delivered to a supermarket in Mong Kok in mid-February. The robbers, wielding knives, threatened the delivery man and took off with rolls worth more than $1,000. Two arrests were made later.
Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) announced in mid-February that Hong Kong received 3.2 million visitor arrivals in January, a daily average of 100,000, dropping 53% from 200,000 in the first half of 2019. While average daily arrivals recovered to 130,000 with the pre-Chinese New Year rush in January, the outbreak of COVID-19 aggravated the decline once again and visitors plunged to 65,000 a day in late January. Find out more on discoverhongkong.com, where HKTB is providing instant updates on the latest measures to assist visitors.
