2022-08-08 HKT 11:24
Chief Executive John Lee has announced that from Friday, people arriving in Hong Kong will have to spend three days in hotel quarantine, instead of the current seven.
After their quarantine at a designated hotel, arrivals will undergo medical surveillance for four more days and while they can go out, they won't be able to enter places that check vaccine passes, such as bars and restaurants.
Such people will be given a "yellow code" on their LeaveHomeSafe app to restrict their movements, but they will be able to take public transport and go to work.
Arrivals will have to take repeated PCR tests during this period and their health code will change to red if they have Covid-19, meaning they must self-isolate.
If they remain negative for Covid after the entire period, the colour of their health code will be changed to blue and they will be free to visit all venues again if they have the vaccine pass.
At a press conference on Monday, Lee said the shortening of the hotel quarantine period doesn't mean Hong Kong is giving up on controlling the epidemic.
He said the government is striking a balance between controlling infection risks, and allowing more economic activities and maintaining Hong Kong's competitiveness.
"The main purpose is while we can control the threat to public health, we want also to ensure that society can have the maximum degree of economic and social activities so that society can go about as normal as possible and the competitiveness of Hong Kong can be maintained," he said.
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