Coronavirus: Hong Kong steps up Covid-19 testing to cover all Beijing arrivals by air

The fresh requirement, which took effect immediately on Wednesday, came as Hong Kong recorded eight imported cases but no new local infections. With the addition of the new cases, involving six people who had been to Pakistan and two who arrived from the Philippines, the city’s tally of confirmed infections reached 1,120.

Currently, all air arrivals from mainland China who are required to quarantine for 14 days are subject to a mandatory test. But some coming to Hong Kong from the mainland are granted quarantine exemptions by the chief secretary via a regulation under the Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance. They are subject to medical surveillance, but a virus test is optional.

It covers those deemed important for the running of government, protecting the safety or health of Hongkongers, supplying goods and services required for the normal functioning of the city, as well as “exceptional circumstances” cases which serve Hong Kong’s public interest and involve 30 categories of people such as air travel workers and cross-border students.

Confirming an exclusive Post report, the Food and Health Bureau said late on Wednesday that people who were exempted from quarantine and had been to Beijing in the past 14 days would be given a sample bottle upon arrival at Hong Kong airport. They would need to collect a saliva sample at home and bring the specimen to a designated clinic.

The Post contacted the government to determine how many air travellers from Beijing have been exempted from mandatory quarantine in Hong Kong since early February, when the self-isolating measures were introduced.

No government department could provide an overall figure for the number of people exempted from quarantine upon arrival from the mainland, as the approval of exemptions for workers was done by individual units based on the industry.