Hong Kong to end mandatory quarantine
HONG KONG ( SCMP ) – Hong Kong is finally ending mandatory hotel quarantine for overseas arrivals after more than two years, marking the lifting of one of the world’s toughest pandemic-control regimes.
Incoming travellers under the new plan will only be required to go through a period of home medical surveillance, with their movement citywide limited.
The government has come under immense pressure from medical experts and the business community to open up to avoid further losing Hong Kong’s competitive edge to rivals. The announcement comes a day after Japan and Taiwan signalled the easing of their immigration restrictions.
From next month, travellers arriving in Hong Kong will no longer be required to undergo hotel quarantine.
The current “3+4” arrangement, in which overseas arrivals spend three days in hotel isolation and four at home under medical surveillance, will be replaced with “0+3”, according to two sources.
On Tuesday, Beijing offered its clearest indication yet that it backed the city’s relaxation of travel restrictions. Huang Liuquan, deputy director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, spoke at a rare press conference, calling the city’s policy adjustments “understandable” and stressing that local authorities did not have to choose between opening up to the world and the rest of the country, which adopts a “dynamic-zero” policy for Covid-19.
Hong Kong’s chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu also said that his administration was determined to reconnect the city with the world and reduce inconvenience to arrivals.
Friday’s announcement comes just a day after Taiwan and Japan indicating they will relax their travel curbs.
23 September 2022
Photo : A view of Hong Kong
