LettersCoronavirus in Hong Kong: government must explain rationale behind quarantine measures

The changes in mid-August to the Hong Kong government’s Covid-19 quarantine policies for arrivals to the city confirm it is time that the government explains its policy behind the restrictions to which travellers are obliged to comply.

Other countries are moving to accept that having zero Covid-19 cases cannot be maintained for prolonged periods as the mainland, Australia and New Zealand have all discovered recently. Professor Ivan Hung Fan-ngai, co-convenor of the Expert Committee on Clinical Events Assessment Following Covid-19 Immunisation, has warned that this strategy cannot be for the long term.

The 21-day quarantine was introduced when the Delta variant emerged and there was a fear that the incubation period might be longer than that for the other variants. It has since been established that the incubation period is shorter, so why has the quarantine period not reverted to 14 days as it was before? Dr Albert Au Ka-wing, the Centre for Health Protection’s principal medical and health officer, said in March that we must be mindful that the incubation period of this disease is up to 14 days.

Is the 21-day quarantine intended as a deterrent to those wishing to return from a “high-risk” country and the cost of hotel accommodation really a levy on those travellers to provide financial assistance to the hotel businesses who suffered from a lack of patronage in the early days of the pandemic? This would be consistent with the practice of allowing reduced quarantine for those favoured by the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau.

Keeping travellers in quarantine for longer than necessary is counterproductive to the traveller’s health and leads to the potential of travellers becoming infected by others during quarantine, as has been confirmed in some cases.