After scrapping its mandatory hotel quarantine for overseas arrivals in September, Hong Kong will end the three days of home medical surveillance starting tomorrow, lifting all travel restrictions for all arrivals into the city who test negative, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced today.
Under the city’s current ‘0+3’ policy, travellers arriving in Hong Kong are issued an amber health code, which bars them from entering restaurants and other public premises in the city.
With the new ‘0+0’ policy, all incoming travellers who test negative will be given a blue health code and they can freely go around the city as soon as they arrive in Hong Kong.
However, those testing positive upon arrival will still get a red health code and must then follow the city’s Covid-19 isolation protocols.
Meanwhile, starting tomorrow, people in Hong Kong will also no longer need to scan QR codes with their “Leave Home Safe” app to record visits to premises, but entries to some designated places, including restaurants, will still require people to show vaccination records, said Lee.
The decisions were “based on data and risks” as the risk of contagion from imported cases is lower than the risk from local cases, according to Lee. “We believe that the lifting [of the ‘0+3’ measures] will not increase the risk of local outbreaks.”
Hong Kong lifted its mandatory hotel quarantine on 26 September, from which incoming travellers only need to undergo the three-day home medical surveillance, with their movement citywide limited.
The city eased its quarantine and isolation measures for positive cases last week, following the recent shift in mainland China’s zero-Covid policy. Starting last Friday, residents and arrivals who test positive for Covid-19 are now allowed to leave isolation on the fifth day – instead of the seventh – after testing negative for two days in a row, South China Morning Post reported.
Meanwhile, mainland China has deactivated its national phone app that tracked people’s movements during the pandemic. The app was in operation for around three years before going offline yesterday. The move was welcomed by many social media users. However, local apps similar to the national one are reportedly still in use across the nation, BBC News reported.
