Hong Kong is going to scrap current quarantine regulations, a move expected to make travel to the region far more feasible.
Hong Kong chief executive John Lee and Lo Cung-mau, the Health Secretary, announced the new rules at a local press conference on 23rd September. The change will come into effect from 26th September and will mean travellers will no longer be required to go direct to a designated quarantine hotel. Instead, they will need to show a negative Covid test for the first three days of their stay. They will be able to leave their hotel for meetings or to visit a trade show or showrooms, but will be restricted from entering busy establishments such as bars and restaurants. The region will be hoping the announcement will help reinstate Hong Kong’s status as an international destination for business travellers.
Travellers will still have to take a PCR test on arrival, but will be able to travel home or to their chosen hotel without the current requirement to wait for the test result. Once the negative test is received, visitors will be issued with a LeaveHomeSafe tracing app and an amber QR code. They will then need to take further tests on day two, four and six. As long as the day two test gives a negative result, travellers will then be issued with a blue QR code which means all restrictions will be removed after the third day.
The city’s leader explained how the new scheme would result in ‘test and go,’ instead of ‘test and hold’.
Travellers still need to provide a negative test 24 hours before their flight but it can be a rapid flow test and this change is instead of providing a negative PCR test 48 hours before their flight.
Lee explained that the authorities have been focused on reducing Covid-related deaths and severe cases, protecting high-risk groups, and weighing up the risks versus the impact on the economy. This latest policy changes comes after the government decided that there was no greater transmission risk from inbound travellers than there was of local transmission.
“Under the situation where we can control the trend of the pandemic, we seek to give the maximum room for Hong Kong to connect with the world, to give society the biggest economic momentum and reduce inconvenience for inbound travellers. We don’t wish to backtrack,” the Hong Kong leader explained.
When the city’s Covid-19 travel rules were at their strictest, arrivals had to spend 21 days in a designated quarantine hotel. Friday’s announcement has come just in time for a global bankers’ summit to be held in Hong Kong in November.
This new change in the rules will no doubt give Hong Kong businesses a glimmer of hope that international travel will start to resume to pre-pandemic levels and put the Hong Kong financial hub back on the global stage.
