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Hong Kong is reducing the time it will take travelers to serve quarantine in hotels from seven days to three from Friday.
“The hotel’s seven-day quarantine arrangement will change to three days in hotel quarantine, plus four days of home medical monitoring,” chief executive John Lee said at a press conference on Monday.
After completing hotel quarantine, travelers can stay at home or in a hotel for the four days of surveillance. During that time people will be able to leave their place of residence, but cannot enter “places where there is active control of vaccination records,” Li said in Cantonese.
This includes bars, pubs, gyms and beauty salons. People are also not allowed to visit nursing homes, schools and certain medical facilities during the surveillance period.
“They cannot participate in activities where the masks must come off,” Lee added. If they test negative on a rapid antigen test, they can take public transportation, go to work and enter malls, he said.
“We have to strike a balance between the level of risk as well as our economic activity. Where risks can be controlled, we want to maintain maximum movement of people and maintain Hong Kong’s competitiveness,” Lee said.
Hong Kong has imposed strict border controls to stop the spread of Covid. However, thousands of people fled the Chinese city as the lockdown took its toll on residents while most of the rest of the world opened up.
Health Minister Lo Chung-mau said based on trends in imported cases, 80% of infections are picked up within three days.
“Four extra nights in a quarantined hotel – that means seven nights in a quarantined hotel – is not cost-effective and will also affect Hong Kong’s connectivity to the world,” he said at the same press conference.
Shares in Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific rose 2.36% after the announcement.
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