Hong Kong cuts hotel quarantine to 3 days to revive travel
HONG KONG will reduce the period of time that arrivals must spend in hotel quarantine to 3 days, plus 4 days of health monitoring, the latest move to ease travel restrictions that have largely isolated the Asian financial hub throughout the pandemic.
People arriving in Hong Kong from overseas will need to spend 3 days in hotel quarantine and can then serve their 4 days of health monitoring, which will coincide with movement restrictions, at home or in a hotel, chief executive John Lee said on Monday (Aug 8). The 4-day period carries relatively loose rules, with travellers able to leave their homes and only restricted from high-risk places. The new rules come into effect from Friday.
While the reduction is likely to be welcomed by residents, who have faced mandatory hotel quarantine of as many as 21 days during the pandemic, it still falls short of what business groups say Hong Kong needs in order to revive its global status. “It is unlikely to benefit the broader business and tourist travel which will need a full lifting of quarantine controls,” David Graham, executive director of the British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, said in a statement. “This will be critical for Hong Kong’s economic and business outlook. We continue to encourage the government to move toward quarantine-free travel.”
Arrivals also still face the prospect of being sent to a community isolation facility should they test positive on one of the copious number of tests they’ll be required to take. “For Hong Kong to be back on the map for stakeholders from abroad requires them to be able to come and leave as they would nearly everywhere else, that is without quarantine, tests on arrival or the worry that they may be sent to an isolation centre if they should contract Covid while they’re here,” said Johannes Hack, president of the German Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong.
The easier-to-endure quarantine period follows the removal of flight suspensions on Jul 7 that imposed snap bans on certain routes if they inadvertently brought in passengers infected with Covid, making it difficult for travellers to plan their trips. The easing measures implemented during Lee's early days in office are part of his plan to restore the city's stature without alienating Chinese officials committed to rooting out the virus.
"We want to reduce the impact from quarantine on our economic activities as well as our connection with the world," Lee said at a briefing.
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The city's strict rules – at a time when much of the rest of the world has abandoned Covid curbs – have deterred travellers and undermined Hong Kong's future as an international finance centre. The slow pace of reducing quarantine also shows the city's struggle to balance limiting new Covid cases and opening up its international borders.
Reduced quarantine may not entirely ease headaches for travel into Hong Kong. Rooms are in short supply, costs are high, while anyone who is infected in the days before their trip are forced to delay travel. Once inside the city, public gatherings of more than 4 people are still banned – though indoor events can be larger – and masks are mandatory.
Health code
Officials also unveiled a tiered health-code system reminiscent of what's used in mainland China. A yellow code will be given to inbound travellers once they finish mandatory quarantine, while anyone testing positive will be given a red code. A blue code will be shown in the city's LeaveHomeSafe app once the quarantine or health monitoring period has ended.
There's little sign Hong Kong will abandon its cautious approach towards the virus, even as curbs weigh on the economy. Gross domestic product contracted 1.4 per cent in the second quarter from a year earlier. The city reported more than 4,000 infections on Sunday.
Schools will continue to operate under half-day class arrangements in the upcoming school year until further notice, the government said on Friday. An isolation facility with 3,000 units at the site of the city's old airport has just been launched, with the security minister highlighting sea views from some of the rooms in a social media post. BLOOMBERG
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