The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) announced today (June 10) that, in view of the latest situation of COVID-19, more public swimming pools, gazetted beaches, libraries and museums will reopen on June 13 and 15 (Saturday and Monday). In addition, booking applications for some land recreation and sports facilities and wedding venues will resume on June 13 and the arrangement of opening alternate courts/tables of badminton courts, billiard/American pool rooms and table tennis rooms will be relaxed on June 15.
Among the leisure venues, three public swimming pools will be reopened on June 13. They are Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park Swimming Pool on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Park Swimming Pool (indoor L2 training pool only) and Lam Tin Swimming Pool (training pool only) in Kowloon. Details are at www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/beach/common/documents/reopen_annex1_613.pdf. For details of facilities in swimming pools to be reopened, please refer to notices displayed at the venues. The reopened swimming pools will operate from 6.30am to 10pm for three sessions daily with two breaks.
Six gazetted beaches will be reopened, namely Big Wave Bay Beach on Hong Kong Island and Ting Kau Beach, Cafeteria New Beach, Castle Peak Beach, Silverstrand Beach and Trio Beach in the New Territories. Please refer to www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/beach/common/documents/reopen_annex2_613.pdf for details of beaches to be reopened. Lifeguard services will be provided daily at the reopened gazetted beaches from 9am to 6pm. The services will be extended from 8am to 7pm on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays during the peak period from June to August.
The LCSD appeals to beach-goers to comply with the Prevention and Control of Disease (Prohibition on Group Gathering) Regulation (Cap 599G) on the prohibition of group gatherings of more than eight people. To ensure appropriate distance between shower facilities users, only alternate shower cubicles and shower heads will be open. Apart from the previously reopened gazetted beaches and the beaches to be reopened as mentioned above, all other beaches will remain closed with lifeguard services suspended. The public should neither swim nor gather at the closed beaches for social distancing reasons and to avoid accidents.
Acceptance of individual and block booking applications for use of the reopened non-fee-charging land recreation and sports facilities (such as roller skating rinks and model car play areas) in August or afterwards, as well as block booking applications for the reopened fee-charging land recreation and sports facilities (such as tennis courts, bowling greens, activity rooms, dance rooms and squash courts in sports centres) in August or afterwards, will resume starting from June 13. Please refer to the LCSD's website (www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/facilities/facilitiesbooking/procedure/feeorganisation.html and www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/facilities/facilitiesbooking/procedure/nonfee.html) for details. Acceptance of applications for holding wedding ceremonies at LCSD designated venues, including Repulse Bay Beach, Kowloon Walled City Park, Kowloon Tsai Park, Tai Po Waterfront Park and Sai Kung Waterfront Park will be resumed starting from June 13. Please refer to the LCSD's website (www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/wedding/index.html) for details.
The arrangement of opening alternate courts/tables of badminton courts, billiard/American pool rooms and table tennis rooms will be relaxed from June 15 (the arrangement will be maintained for individual facilities with a distance of less than 1.5 metres).
Processing and acceptance of booking applications for indoor multi-purpose arenas, other facilities that remain closed, amphitheatres and non-fee charging leisure venues for non-designated use/sales activities are suspended until further notice.
Regarding cultural venues, the adult and children's libraries of a further 19 district libraries will reopen on June 15. They are North Point Public Library, Quarry Bay Public Library, Shek Tong Tsui Public Library, Fa Yuen Street Public Library, Ngau Tau Kok Public Library, To Kwa Wan Public Library, Po On Road Public Library, San Po Kong Public Library, Shui Wo Street Public Library, South Kwai Chung Public Library, North Kwai Chung Public Library, Yuen Chau Kok Public Library, Ma On Shan Public Library, Tseung Kwan O Public Library, Sheung Shui Public Library, Sai Kung Public Library, Tai Hing Public Library, Yuen Long Public Library and Cheung Chau Public Library. To avoid people gathering, admission slips will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis for entry to each session. The students' study rooms of the above-mentioned district libraries (not applicable to North Point and Tai Hing Public Libraries) will resume service on the same day. The study rooms will implement the same special opening hours as the libraries. Admission will be arranged by sessions with each lasting about three hours and the number of users limited.
Reference libraries in the reopened Hong Kong Central Library and six other major public libraries, namely City Hall Public Library, Kowloon Public Library, Tsuen Wan Public Library, Sha Tin Public Library, Tuen Mun Public Library and Ping Shan Tin Shui Wai Public Library, will reopen on June 15 with reference enquiry services resumed.
From June 15, all reopened public libraries will implement special opening hours. The opening hours of these libraries will be 1pm to 8pm from Mondays to Saturdays and 9am to 5pm on Sundays and public holidays. The duration of admission sessions will be adjusted from June 15 to meet readers' needs, with an extension from about one hour to 1.5 hours from Mondays to Saturdays and an extension from about one hour to 1.5 to two hours on Sundays and public holidays. Children under 12 will only be allowed to enter when accompanied by an adult. Limited services including lending and returning of library materials and picking up reserved library materials will be offered. Some of the computer facilities will resume service and be open for telephone booking. From June 15, the newspaper and periodical areas will be reopened with reduced seating capacity to maintain social distance and minimise the risk of virus spreading. Please visit www.hkpl.gov.hk/en/index.html for details.
The Hong Kong Science Museum and the Hong Kong Space Museum will partially reopen their exhibition facilities on June 15 and implement special opening hours. Public programmes will be temporarily suspended. Except on regular closing days, the Hong Kong Science Museum will be open from 10am to 5pm while the Hong Kong Space Museum will be open from 12.30pm to 5pm. The Space Theatre of the Hong Kong Space Museum is now temporarily closed for refurbishment. Major work of the project consists of replacing the dome screen and installation of a new planetarium projection system. The Space Theatre is expected to reopen in July next year. During the period of closure, all of the Space Theatre's programmes are suspended. Those who have purchased tickets for the Space Theatre's programmes or exhibition halls but were affected by the pandemic should refer to the Space Museum website for refund arrangements and box office opening hours.
Among the above two museums and the 14 museums and cultural venues reopened earlier, the Hong Kong Science Museum, the Hong Kong Space Museum, the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Hong Kong Heritage Museum and the Hong Kong Museum of History will arrange visits by sessions, each lasting two hours, with admission quotas to limit visitor flow. Visitors will be able to enter the museums on a first-come, first-served basis. Children aged under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. For details, please visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/facilities/facilitieslist/museums/lcsdmuseums.html.
Visitors to the public libraries and museums will need to use hand sanitiser and will be subject to temperature checks before admission. They are also advised to wear their own masks. Enhanced measures including cleaning and disinfection between sessions will be conducted.
Also, in view of the situation of COVID-19, the LCSD's museums were temporarily closed from January 29. Upon the full resumption of museum services at a later time, admission fees will be waived for affected Museum Pass holders. The number of days for the waiver will be based on the number of valid days of the respective Passes during the temporary closure period. The effective date of the waiver and details will be announced on museum webpages in due course.
The LCSD will continue to monitor the situation closely and review the arrangements in a timely manner.
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