DDHK.ORG - Hong Kong removes mandatory quarantine at hotels for arrivals. This policy is effective from Monday, September 26, 2022.
Hong Kong's Chief Executive, John Lee, announced this on Friday (23/9/2022). This policy was taken by the government with the consideration that the Covid-19 pandemic is in a stable situation.
Under the new policy, visitors to Hong Kong will only be given a yellow health code for 3 days. They are prohibited from entering certain places such as restaurants and bars.
"The arrivals will be told to take a rapid Covid test for a week, as well as undergo a PCR test when they arrive at the airport, 2, 4 and 6 days later," said RTHK, citing Mister Lee.
The Hong Kong government has also lifted the requirement for travelers to get a negative PCR test result before boarding a flight. Instead, they will be required to take a rapid test within 24 hours of boarding. They don't have to wait for their PCR test results at the airport and can go via any mode of transportation they want.
Hong Kong residents (residents) will also be allowed to return, even if they are not fully vaccinated. However, they will still have to follow current protocols if they wish to comply with the current Vaccine Pass conditions.
"Officials will also remove all quotas for the Return2HK and Come2HK schemes, to allow Hong Kong residents and non-Hong Kong residents to come to Hong Kong SAR easily," RTHK wrote.
Lee said he was optimistic that the latest measures would be welcomed by those wishing to come to Hong Kong, and he did not rule out further easing of travel restrictions going forward. “If there are positive developments, then of course we can have more room to consider further how we will allow more activities and create more comfort. I think it's important for people to know that our goal is for people to come in more comfortably, and be allowed to move as much as possible," he said.
Hong Kong's Health Secretary, Lo Chung-mau, said replacing the hotel quarantine measures currently in place for arrivals from overseas with a "0+3" policy would not increase the risk of infection in Hong Kong. But he warned officials to be careful.
“There are new virus variants emerging from different parts of the world, and we need close monitoring to ensure that these new variants do not enter. That's one of the reasons we are very careful about the PCR test for these inbound travelers, and to make sure that we will do sequencing for these PCR positive cases to check if there are new variants that come in," said Lo.
