To highlight the financial hub’s recovery, Hong Kong may reveal plans to remove hotel quarantine for incoming guests.
The newspaper, citing unnamed sources, reported that the announcement might happen as soon as this week and that new immigrants will instead need to participate in self-monitoring for seven days. Since it will have an impact on current operations in the hotel and airline sectors, the implementation date is still to be determined.
Even while most nations in the area relax regulations and open their borders to tourists, Hong Kong and mainland China have maintained among the tightest Covid regulations in the world.
It has been questioned if guests will attend a proposed banking meeting and the renowned Rugby Sevens tournament later this year if they must spend the first three days of their stay in a designated hotel followed by four days of being barred from pubs and restaurants.
Holden Chow, a politician and deputy chairman of the major political party in Hong Kong’s legislature, remarked that if we can complete this by November, with zero days of quarantine, it will be quite useful for us to plan these sizable events. They might also go gradually or step-by-step because “our ultimate aim is to accomplish zero days.
The city has to this point adopted a position that is consistent with China’s unwavering pursuit of a Covid Zero strategy, which strives to eradicate the virus rather than simply cope with it.
Recent actions by other nations have accelerated Hong Kong’s aim to ease border controls before November. According to the article, which omitted more information, the administration has intentions to relax several social exclusionary practices.
Asia as a whole vs Hong Kong
Hong Kong has gradually loosened its pandemic restrictions since a spike in Covid infections and fatalities in March signaled a distinct break from the mainland, which continues to impose stringent lockdowns and protracted quarantines to limit cases at or below zero.
Since being inaugurated into office on July 1, Chief Executive John Lee has made several moves to lessen the city’s isolation.
In response to pressure to abolish the regulations when competing centers like Singapore, New York, and London fully resumed operations, he decreased the hotel quarantine minimum stay from seven to three days last month.
Peter Woo, one of the richest real estate moguls in the city, and other leading epidemiologists in Hong Kong have both urged for their demolition.
The city said this week that visitors who test positive for Covid-19 can stay in their quarantine accommodations rather than being sent to isolation hotels or communal buildings like the infamous Penny’s Bay. If there is a chance they would be transferred to quarantine facilities, some prospective attendees to Hong Kong’s high-profile events had stated they wouldn’t go.
Even as competing Asian centers like Singapore have lifted all pandemic restrictions, Hong Kong has cut hotel quarantine from 21 to 3 days. Nevertheless, the administration has not been able to fully open up.
Hong Kong still has some of the strongest Covid regulations in the world in addition to the border regulations since it has to deal with thousands of new infections every day.
Masks are nearly always necessary, and eating establishments are obliged to follow health rules and daily quick antigen testing for school pupils.
Restriction on the number of individuals who can sit together at a restaurant table and limitations on public meetings also continue, and clients of bars must present proof of a recent negative Covid test.
The elite of the city is deeply divided on how to handle the epidemic, as seen by disagreements over Hong Kong’s policies. After the previous head of the Hospital Authority criticized the city’s reopening procedure for moving too slowly, the discussion heated up on Friday.
