Hong Kong to ease strict Covid measures from April, and lift flight ban

[HONG KONG] Hong Kong plans to relax some anti-Covid-19 measures next month, lifting a ban on flights from nine countries, reducing quarantine time for arrivals from abroad and reopening schools.

The moves, announced on Monday by Chief Executive Carrie Lam, could quieten some criticism from residents who have become increasingly frustrated with the city's stringent measures, some of which have been in place for over 2 years.

The flight ban would be lifted from Apr 1, while hotel quarantine for arrivals could be cut to 7 days from 14 if residents test negative, she told a news briefing. She had previously said measures would be in place until Apr 20. Schools would resume face to face classes from Apr19, after the Easter holidays, while public venues including sports facilities would also reopen from Apr 21, she said.

Hong Kong's border has effectively been shut since 2020, with very few flights able to land and hardly any passengers allowed to transit, effectively isolating a city that had built a reputation as a global financial hub. The ban had made it very difficult for residents to return to the Chinese ruled territory, with many spending time known as"washing out" in other countries for two weeks before being allowed to return.

The rules, together with constant mixed messaging from the government including whether a citywide lockdown and mass testing would take place, have triggered an exodus of residents in the past two months. Net outflows show more than 54,000 people left Hong Kong so far in March, against more than 71,000 in February and nearly 17,000 in December before the fifth wave of the pandemic hit, prompting fears for the city's longer-term competitiveness. Businesses and the city's economy are reeling from widespread closures, while doctors say many of the city's 7.4 million residents are grappling with rising mental health issues, particularly among low-income families.

A plan to carry out mass coronavirus testing would be put on hold, Lam said, citing experts who said it was not a suitable time. While the former British colony has officially stuck to the"dynamic zero" coronavirus policy, similar to mainland China, which seeks to curb all outbreaks, it has been shifting to mitigation strategies as deaths skyrocketed. Hong Kong has registered the most deaths per million people globally in recent weeks - more than 24 times that of rival Singapore - due to a large proportion of elderly who were unvaccinated as the highly transmissible Omicron variant ripped through care homes since February. The densely packed city has recorded more than 1 million infections since the pandemic started and about 5,000 deaths - most of them in the past month. As many as 4 million people could be infected, according to estimates from health experts as many residents have contracted the virus and isolated at home without notifying authorities.

Lam also announced that the current flight ban against the nine countries and regions, including Britain and the United States, will be lifted from Apr 1. The first stage of the new measure will be applicable to Hong Kong residents who have completed vaccination. They must hold a negative nucleic acid test certificate 48 hours before boarding their flights from other places and have a quarantine hotel room booked in advance.

Moreover, Lam said that as the epidemic situation in Hong Kong is still severe, most of the social distancing measures will be extended to Apr 20 as originally planned.

On the premise that the epidemic situation does not rebound and shows a downward trend, most social distance measures will be lifted in three stages from Apr 21. In the first stage, some premises will be reopened, including museums and libraries; evening dine-in service will be allowed until 10 pm, and the gathering restriction will be relaxed to four people.

On the vaccination programme, Lam said the HKSAR government aims to have 90 per cent of the population aged 12 or above to have had their second shots by the end of April.

The Hong Kong authorities had flagged last week a plan to review its response to the pandemic, a move spurred by frustration within the financial and general community at the territory's Covid-19 strategy, which has left the city shut off from the world while still experiencing a widespread outbreak. Lam had told reporters on Sunday that she didn't yet have an announcement to make on the plans, but could do so on Monday.

When announcing the review Mar 17, Lam said virtually every area of her government's approach would be scrutinised and signalled that the period of time travellers into Hong Kong are required to spend in hotel quarantine may be cut.

The review comes as the city reported 14,149 new confirmed Covid-19 cases on Sunday, the lowest daily toll in more than 3 weeks with at-home testing kit results now accepted alongside lab-verified results. Lam said Sunday that infections may have hit a peak and seem to be trending down, though deaths remain elevated with 246 new fatalities reported, 41 of them backlogged.

REUTERS BLOOMBERG