Hong Kong defends letting JPMorgan's Dimon skip quarantine

Hong Kong

HONG Kong let JPMorgan Chase & Co chief executive officer Jamie Dimon skip the city's 21-day hotel quarantine because of the size of the bank's operations in the Asian financial hub, saying his trip was relatively low risk.

"The justification is related to economy, as this is a very huge bank with key business in Hong Kong," Chief Executive Carrie Lam said in a regular briefing on Tuesday (Nov 16). "He needs to come to Hong Kong for work for about a day."

Lam added that Dimon had limits placed on his itinerary, "and his entire trip was restricted. The risk is totally manageable".

The city's government granted Dimon an individual exemption from quarantine rules, Lam said. That's despite recent efforts to do away with any exemptions in order to convince Chinese officials that the former British colony was tightening its virus control measures before any border opening with the mainland.

In August, the government granted an exemption to actor Nicole Kidman who had flown into the city to film a TV series, prompting a brief outcry from frustrated residents who have been forced to pay out for expensive hotel stays.

HSBC Holdings chairman Mark Tucker passed through a 3-week quarantine the same month.

Hong Kong, which is pursuing a "Covid Zero" strategy alongside China, has imposed some of the world's strictest travel rules to keep the virus out. Measures include mandatory hotel quarantines of 3 weeks for any resident returning to the city from the UK or US, regardless of vaccination status, while most non-resident visitors and tourists are banned. BLOOMBERG