Advertisement
Letters | 3 Covid quarantine policy tweaks Hong Kong should home in on
- The current policy is unlikely to be keeping Hong Kong safer from Covid-19 when everyone is crowded into a 90-100 per cent occupied quarantine hotel
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
2
The Hong Kong government has again got itself into a mess and doesn’t have the wherewithal to admit its mistakes and take corrective action. Officials will have to admit their errors eventually, but why does it take so long when obvious measures can be taken immediately?
The policy of requiring almost everyone arriving in Hong Kong – save certain mainland arrivals, C-level financial executives, and pilots/flight crew – to quarantine in a designated hotel has run its course, at least as far as residents are concerned.
There are not enough designated hotel rooms for visitors and returning residents to accommodate their travel plans, causing confusion and disruption to those plans.
Advertisement
The policy restricts travel to and from the city and imposes financial and psychological burdens on travellers and their families. This financial burden for residents is on top of the already high cost of home ownership, compounded by rates and taxes, and/or rent.
The policy is self-perpetuating because the government has agreed to subsidise the quarantine hotels if occupancy levels drop.
Advertisement
This policy is unlikely to be keeping Hong Kong safer from Covid-19 when everyone is crowded into a 90-100 per cent occupied quarantine hotel, as compared to having a lower occupancy level for visitors and allowing residents to stay in their own homes under strict quarantine rules.
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x