DDHK.ORG - The Hong Kong government has cut the hotel quarantine period for people who have just arrived in the Land of Concrete, from the previous 7 days to just 3 days. The policy is effective from 12 August 2022.
“In our consideration of how long the hotel quarantine should be (for inbound travelers), I have described in detail five (points) of overall consideration of the government's anti-epidemic measures. This means that we will control (the risk of the outbreak) as best we can, using different measures to reduce the burden on our hospital services," said Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee, Monday, August 8, 2022.
After three nights in a quarantine hotel, the individual can return home or stay at a non-quarantine hotel. With the provisions, for the next four days must undergo medical supervision. During the medical surveillance period, they will be given a yellow code on the LeaveHomeSafe mobile app to restrict their movement. In addition, these arrivals must undergo repeated nucleic acid tests as well as rapid antigen tests, and their health code will turn red if they test positive for COVID-19, meaning they must be isolated.
"Those who are infected (COVID-19) must remain in isolation locations and those who are not infected will be coded (in yellow) to allow (them) to carry out some social activities provided they do not participate in any activities that remove masks and other requirements. which I have mentioned,” said Lee.
This means that while they can go out for these four days and use public transportation, they cannot visit places that proactively check Vaccine Pass, such as restaurants, bars and gyms. In addition, they cannot visit nursing and disabled homes, schools, or designated health care settings. Persons holding a yellow code who work or study in such places, or receive services at designated health care establishments, they are not subject to the restrictions under the Vaccine Pass. However, their inclusion will also depend on whether the boss or the person in charge of the place concerned establishes additional rules or requirements according to their needs.
Lee estimates that any policy taken related to the handling of the Corona outbreak has risks. “There will definitely be ups and downs in the number of infected cases. We will monitor it closely," he said.
But the Chief Executive believes this new move is a way to strike a balance between minimizing the risk of COVID-19 transmission and keeping Hong Kong a competitive city. "What we recommend now (three days of quarantine at the designated hotel) is after examining the scientific evidence and data, which gives us an indication that the risk factor of people completing the three-day quarantine at the designated hotel is that their risk level is actually no more than the level of the risk of transmitting COVID-19 in the community," said Lee.
“Based on this analysis, we consider the risk (to be controlled) and balance it with the need for other activities to be carried out. This new measure of three (hotel quarantine days) plus four (home medical surveillance days) will be in Hong Kong's best interest. "The main objective (of this new measure) is (that) while we control the threats to public health, we also want to ensure that people can have maximum levels of economic and social activity and that Hong Kong's competitiveness can be maintained." [Source: news.gov.hk][DDHKNews]
