5 Jan – Many industries have been badly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the cinemas are no exception. As the city faces the severity of yet another wave of the outbreak, the Hong Kong cinemas were ordered to close in December 2020, causing the operators to lose out on the lucrative Christmas and New Year holiday seasons. To assist the operators, the Hong Kong government will be providing cash subsidies to cinema operators. A one-off payment of HK$100,000 (USD$12,900) will be paid to each screen at a licensed commercial cinema operating in November. The maximum per circuit is HK$3 million (USD$387,000). A total of HK$21 million (USD$2.7 million) is expected to be paid out. Prior to this latest closure, the government had earlier ordered the cinemas to be closed in April and October 2020 as well, and had given out the cash subsidies each time.