Hong Kong students with amber code under ‘3+4’ quarantine rule should not join mask-off activities or eat with others on campus: education authority

Students under home medical surveillance as part of Hong Kong’s new Covid-19 quarantine policy should not join mask-off activities in schools or have lunch with others, according to new guidelines issued by the education authority.

Schools should also make police reports if they discover individuals with the red health code – barring entry to premises citywide – attempting to enter campuses, the Education Bureau said in an email to the sector on Thursday night.

“To allow students with the amber code to have equal learning opportunities, schools should allow these students to return for face-to-face classes,” the bureau said in the email, adding such pupils could come back for lessons if they tested negative on daily rapid antigen screenings.

The city on Friday recorded 4,439 new Covid-19 infections, including 217 imported ones. Four additional virus-linked deaths were also reported. Hong Kong’s Covid-19 tally stands at 1,406,735, with 9,559 related casualties.

The new coloured health code, implemented alongside relaxed “3+4” quarantine arrangements for arrivals that came into force on Friday, uses a red code on the government’s “Leave Home Safe” app to identify infected patients.

Uninfected people undergoing home medical surveillance will get an amber code when they complete three days in hotel isolation and are released to serve their home medical surveillance from Day 4 to Day 7. They can still go to school and report for work, but their movements citywide are limited.

Some schools complained earlier that authorities had not specified how they should treat students with the amber code. Such users are restricted from visiting restaurants and high-risk places.