They matched on dating app Coffee Meets Bagel and had been chatting for about a week, bonding over a shared passion for travel. But after he asked her out a few times, Hong Kong-based freelance writer Monana Liu decided to politely and firmly turn him down one last time, cutting off contact.
Although 30-year-old Liu said she normally would not mind going out with the man she matched with, his persistent requests to meet up – at a time when the city was racing to contain a third wave of Covid-19 cases – put her off.