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Passengers arriving at the Hong Kong International Airport prepare to be transported to designated quarantine hotels on December 22. Hong Kong extended its compulsory quarantine to three weeks for almost all international travellers from December 25. Photo: Nora Tam

Letters | Hong Kong Covid quarantine: does case data support three weeks of isolation?

  • How many travellers completed their two-week quarantine with negative test results but were subsequently found to be infected?
Your correspondent Keith Noyes raises some interesting questions regarding the logic behind Hong Kong’s current coronavirus restrictions, as he asks for an explanation of the medical science behind these measures (“ Covid-19 social distancing: what science is Hong Kong following?” March 2).

The Department of Health will now have comprehensive records of over 11,000 cases of the Covid-19 virus in Hong Kong. Could they please state how many of these cases were travellers who had completed their two-week quarantine with negative test results, but were subsequently found to be infected?

In how many of these cases was there no reasonable doubt that they could not have been infected while in quarantine or subsequently?

Only with this explanation can Hong Kong be assured that the third week of quarantine is not really just a tax levied on travellers to provide much needed financial support to our excellent hotels.

02:28

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Also, Laura Westbrook’s article, “ Coronavirus: stuck in limbo, Hongkongers stranded in Britain want to know when they will be able to return home” (March 1), highlights the plight of Hongkongers stranded in Britain by the coronavirus restrictions and wanting to know when they can return. They may include those who are required to return to Hong Kong to maintain their permanent residency status.

The Immigration Department advises that a non-Chinese national, who has been absent from Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than 36 months since ordinarily residing in Hong Kong, will lose their permanent residency status.

In view of the inability of some to return to Hong Kong at the present time, will the government relax this requirement?

Ronald Taylor, Pok Fu Lam

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