Hong Kong has some exciting events coming up at the end of the year – events that, pre-COVID, drummed up a heap of hype within the city and around the world. One of these is Hong Kong’s flagship sporting event, the Rugby Sevens. The other is a summit for over 100 business executives organized by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Financial Secretary. While organizers for Sevens are still waiting for approval to go ahead with the event, the summit has been scheduled for November. Now, the only thing that is a bit of a deterrent is the city’s quarantine situation for travelers.
Speaking with SCMP, Hong Kong’s new health chief Lo Chung-mau said that the government is looking at quarantine-free travel by November, with some conditions. This could be five days in hotel quarantine and two days at home or even the entire seven days at home quarantine. He added that he needs to still look at the latest data, including how many travelers are still positive on their third day of hotel quarantine, before making a call. Meanwhile, the city is still in the middle of planning a China-like local health code to track people’s movements.
Key comments:
“Is nothing required any more? I think that would be a bit tough. At least PCR testing is needed. But does quarantine have to be confined to a fixed location?” said Lo.
