Plan to reduce hotel isolation for travellers to five days
Hong Kong could cut hotel quarantine for travellers to five days, with another two to be spent in home isolation, the incoming health minister has told the Post.
Professor Lo Chung-mau yesterday revealed the possibility of the city easing its Covid-19 curbs, the same day the mainland reduced quarantine time for overseas arrivals.
Some health experts and politicians said the mainland’s move could have an impact on Hong Kong’s own Covid-19 restrictions and open up room for manoeuvre, provided the change was backed up by scientific evidence.
Lo will become the new secretary for health on July 1. He told the Post he had been weighing different options that could help shorten quarantine.
“The 5+2 option is among those we have been considering,” he said, referring to an option of five days’ quarantine in hotels and the remaining two days at home. “But since we are still a few days from taking office, and we do not want to override the policies of the current administration, we would only make further announcements when we take office,” Lo said. “I know residents and travellers are looking forward to hearing some good news. We are actively considering these options.”
The mainland yesterday announced the biggest change to its entry rules since it closed its borders in March 2020, as officials decided to cut quarantine time for overseas arrivals to seven days at a government-run facility, followed by another three days in home isolation.
Hong Kong government pandemic adviser Professor David Hui Shu-cheong said a move to the “5+2” option for quarantine was possible, but the Department of Health needed to first examine local scientific data such as the incubation period of the virus in recent imported infections.
Hui said the option should be attached with certain conditions. “Only people with a home and a separate bedroom and toilet should be allowed [to quarantine at home],” he said, as this could prevent transmission of the virus to family members in the last two days of home isolation.
Respiratory medicine specialist Dr Leung Chi-chiu said he believed further relaxation should not be considered lightly.
“Hong Kong has already adjusted the hotel quarantine to seven days in line with the shorter incubation period of Omicron. Further shortening is not in line with either objective data or the newly adopted quarantine policy on the mainland,” he said.
Leung argued that a shorter quarantine period carried the additional risk of new variants being imported.
“With BA.5 gaining dominance in other parts of the world, leading to an increase both in cases and hospitalisations, we need to make certain that the local herd immunity is strong enough to cope with a BA.5 wave in our ageing population,” he said, referring to the Omicron subvariant. which scientists believe spreads faster than previous ones.
The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) on Monday also held an online meeting with Lo, arguing for its proposal to allow Hongkongers wishing to visit the mainland to use local community isolation facilities built during the city’s recent fifth Covid-19 wave for quarantine.
DAB lawmaker Elizabeth Quat said Beijing’s move created “favourable political conditions” for the city to adjust its curbs.
Hong Kong yesterday recorded 1,685 Covid-19 infections, down from 1,873 the day before and 1,917 on Sunday, when the daily caseload hit a recent high. The overall coronavirus tally in the city now stands at 1,241,181 cases, with 9,399 related fatalities as one more death was recorded.