Governments around the world have been working hard to combat Covid-19. Social distancing, limiting flows of people between cities and countries and imposing compulsory home or hotel quarantine have been some of the major efforts besides securing vaccines. Hong Kong started its first compulsory quarantine for people entering the city from the mainland on February 8, 2020. From March 19, people arriving from all overseas countries had to undergo 14-day compulsory quarantine at home or in other accommodation of their choice. Later, to reduce contact between travellers from overseas and the local community, the government mandated that arrivals from high-risk places must quarantine at hotels from July 25. It extended the requirement to all arrivals from outside China from November 13. Hong Kong now faces its fourth wave of Covid-19. The government announced in December a list of dedicated hotels that were eligible to host recent arrivals who were required to quarantine. This was meant to enhance protection against imported cases. But people faced high costs and limited choices, forcing them to delay their travel plans or dig into their reserves to comply with the regulations. Quarantine and isolation have been vindicated and can certainly be justified ethically. The expected benefit to others and society in disease prevention and limitation outweighs the anticipated costs. People realise their social responsibilities, but they have had to suffer loneliness, isolation and confinement for 21 days since December 25. Hong Kong is known for its cramped living conditions, and hotels are no exception. It is frightening to see the lack of care and human contact people have to face under the current arrangement. The government has overlooked the mental health and well-being of quarantined hotel guests. In other parts of the world, including Australia, frequent calls from health care workers are made to check on the well-being of people in quarantine, including their mental health. Hong Kong has failed in this aspect and is seriously out of step with the rest of the world. A shortage of health practitioners is understandable amid the pandemic. However, responsibility for welfare checks could be given to social workers or even hotel staff who receive instruction on controlling and reporting violations of quarantine regulations. Living conditions in hotels can be adverse, even in luxury hotels. There may be no fresh air, room cleaning or space to exercise, as well as food that can be worse than that served to prisoners. There are other things that could cause stress. For example, the required quarantine in pricey hotels can bring a financial burden. And, despite working from home becoming more common, some people have had to take annual or unpaid leave to complete quarantine. It is important to realise that people in quarantine are not ill and have not committed any crime. If quarantine measures are not changed immediately, we will see many more people suffering from mental health issues including stress, anxiety and depression simply because they had urgent issues to deal with and could not avoid travel. There is some recognition that quarantine is stressful, and a group of University of Hong Kong professors have created a “21-Day Wellcation Quarantine Wellness Kit” to deal with stress. However, the government has not focused on the issue much, with the aspect of human contact being completely ignored. The increase to 21 days in quarantine – with the possibility of a further increase to 28 days under newly amended legislation – makes it crucial to support people undergoing the unpleasant experience of being isolated and separated from loved ones. Now that we are a year into the pandemic, we are already too late in some ways. Action is needed now to maintain people’s psychological well-being as much as possible. Social distancing must be maintained, but virtual connections between people should be established and encouraged. Reducing stress and holding our communities together is vital. While dealing with one health crisis, it is essential to make sure we do not sow the seeds for worse, longer-term ailments among the community in the form of stress and depression. Dr Lina Vyas is an associate professor in the Department of Asian and Policy Studies at the Education University of Hong Kong, specialising in public policy and management