Hong Kong backpedals on home quarantine as Covid variants flare
HONG KONG is reviving one of its toughest Covid-Zero measures, forcing mild virus cases and their close contacts into centralised quarantine to tame the spread of new Omicron sub-variants.
People infected with new sub-variants including BA.2.12.1 who aren't severely sick, as well as their close contacts, will be sent to facilities like Penny's Bay as officials try to ringfence its spread. At least 2 families linked to a cluster at a Canadian school have been sent to centres despite arguing that their living situations are suitable for home isolation.
Both families said they had requested to quarantine at home because they have their own kitchen and bathrooms -- a standard requirement for approval -- but health authorities told them they would be sent to an isolation facility because the cluster involved a new sub-variant, according to the families.
"We have to take a more stringent approach to deal with this Omicron sub-lineage," Edwin Tsui, controller of the Centre for Health Protection, said at a briefing on Wednesday (Jun 1), confirming the families' accounts. The sub-variants that Hong Kong are monitoring, including BA.4 and BA.5, may have higher transmissibility and higher immune escape.
It's a reversal of the practice allowing most mildly ill patients and close contacts to stay at home that's been in place since February, when an Omicron wave overwhelmed the city's isolation facilities. The return of the strict measures has the potential to drive even more residents from the Asian financial hub, where curbs like 7-day travel quarantine still exist, though the rules are not as strict as in mainland China.
Harsh virus measures and an outbreak that spiralled into the world's deadliest sparked an exodus of people from Hong Kong in recent months, chiefly to the rival hub of Singapore, that damaged the city's standing as a global financial centre. The arrival of new sub-variants hasn't caused a substantial spike in daily cases, which have dropped from a peak in March to just hundreds per day.
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The reversion to centralised quarantine runs counter to recent statements from Hong Kong health experts that the public shouldn't be too worried about the BA.2.12.1 sub-variant as it's quite similar to BA.2, which spread rampantly through the city earlier this year. Over 87 per cent of Hong Kong residents have had 2 vaccine doses, giving a good level of protection.
The new sub-variant came to Hong Kong through an infected traveller and has spread through the community. The number of cases has topped 30, including a cluster at a McDonald's restaurant and the Canadian DSC International School.
The DSC International School cluster has risen to 8 cases, according to health officials.
The school said in a statement that quarantine arrangements had been made by the Centre for Health Protection. The school had sanitised the campus several times, and offered online learning and counselling to students in quarantine.
A 9-year-old Covid-positive student was admitted to hospital on May 28 after experiencing fever, while her mother, father and older brother were sent to a community isolation facility in Sai Kung the same day, said Junko Nishida, the girl's mom. Nishida works for Bloomberg, the parent company of Bloomberg News.
While initially separated from her daughter, Nishida was approved to stay with her in the hospital from Monday night. Her husband has subsequently tested positive for Covid and was admitted to the same hospital, and their 12-year-old son has also been able to join them. The family hasn't been given any instruction as to when they'll be discharged and whether, or where, they may have to serve subsequent quarantine.
Another parent, who asked not to be identified for privacy reasons, said their 2 daughters tested positive via rapid test on May 28 and were told on Sunday that the family would be moved to Penny's Bay due to the involvement of the sub-variant. They were relocated to the facility on Monday, where they have found the accommodation is damp and has cockroaches, the parent said.
They'll be allowed to leave Penny's Bay if their PCR tests on day 6 and 7 of isolation come back negative. The family is considering relocating back to their home country, the parent said, expressing disappointment with the changing rules and refusal to allow the family to quarantine at home.
Even as authorities shifted to allowing home quarantine, the spectre of central isolation camps has lingered. Hong Kong rushed to expand facilities and took over hotels as the fifth wave surged, taking citywide capacity to a peak of about 70,000 places. While some centres have stopped operating, authorities have kept a number of facilities on standby for use in a future virus wave.
The potential revival of strict containment measures comes as the city anticipates the installation of a new chief executive, John Lee, on Jul 1. Outgoing leader Carrie Lam has overseen an easing of social-distancing curbs since April as daily cases ebbed but has said there won't be any further significant moves in her remaining tenure.
Lee, who oversaw the city's isolation camps in his former role as chief secretary, has given little indication of whether he plans to shift Hong Kong toward living with the virus like the rest of the world, or closer to Beijing's hardline posture. BLOOMBERG
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