Hong Kong will lift its near three-month ban on flights from nine countries and slash its quarantine requirement from 14 days to just 7 days from 1 April as part of a phased easing of COVID-19 measures.
In what some local media outlets have viewed as an early sign that the government is beginning preparations to dump its zero-COVID policy, having seen daily case numbers climb from single figures to more than 50,000 per day earlier this month, Chief Executive Carrie Lam revealed Monday that most major social restrictions will be removed by late April.
However, the most significant is the scrapping of a ban on all flights from eight countries – Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and the United States – that has been in place since 8 January.
Under the eased restrictions, all arrivals must be fully vaccinated, receive a negative COVID-19 test result within 48 hours of departure and pre-book at a designated quarantine hotel, but that quarantine stay will be also be halved from 14 days to 7 days, starting 1 April, pending travellers testing negative on days five, six and seven.
Lam warned against reading too much into her announcement during a press conference on Monday but admitted reconnecting with the outside world couldn’t be delayed forever.
“We will always, as an international city and a very important business and aviation hub, have to take into account not only connectivity with the outside world but also connectivity with the mainland,” she said.
“Many international businesses have chosen Hong Kong because of our accessibility to the mainland market and also, of course, to the Asia Pacific region. For any longer-term public health strategy, we will have to take into account both factors, that is maintaining Hong Kong’s accessibility to the mainland and also ensuring her continued connectivity with the outside world.”
Lam also acknowledged the need to plan a longer-term roadmap for both dealing with and exiting pandemic situations, stating that to do so “we need to do more monitoring of the epidemic development, including what the World Health Organization has to say about this pandemic. We have to listen more carefully to the experts, both locally and from the mainland.”
As part of Hong Kong’s current COVID-19 plan, gyms, game centers, beauty salons, religious venues and sports facilities will reopen and restaurant hours expanded from 21 April. The second phase will see bars and pubs reopened with the third phase ending capacity limits in restaurants and bars.
Face-to-face school classes are scheduled to resume by 19 April while previous plans to conduct mass testing have been scrapped.
Hong Kong had announced last week plans to host some international events before the end of the year, including the Hong Kong Sevens rugby in November.
The planned easing of restrictions comes as daily case numbers have fallen below 20,000 in recent days, including a three-week low of 14,149 on Sunday.
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