Lax enforcement as Hong Kong’s new Covid-19 rule banning visits to quarantining hotel guests takes effect
- The ban on visiting people confined to hotel isolation in Hong Kong came into force on Wednesday
- Of the three hotels entered by the Post, a security guard running checks on visitors was seen at only one
Hong Kong’s new ban on visiting people quarantining in hotels took effect on Wednesday as part of tougher rules to prevent Covid-19’s spread, but some did not appear to take enforcement seriously with members of the public free to access various floors without challenge.
The Post entered three hotels hosting confined guests during Wednesday’s busy lunch period to find only one had stationed a security guard at the lobby’s lifts to check the identity of those heading to other areas of the establishment.
One receptionist, when approached, said they would monitor CCTV footage to ensure compliance, but admitted they did not have staff deployed on various floors to enforce the new regulation.
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Health authorities unveiled a raft of anti-pandemic rules last week in response to a spate of local infections.
Among the new rules is the requirement since last Friday that all people arriving from places outside China have to undergo their mandatory two-week quarantine in hotels.
The visiting ban, which is set out in the isolation orders issued to those arriving in the city, was introduced on Wednesday following pleas from public health experts to do so.
Anyone violating the order faces a penalty of up to six months in jail and a maximum fine of HK$25,000.
Prior to the ban, some family members and friends reportedly visited and even shared meals with the returnees in hotels.
The growing popularity of staycation holidays and big parties in local hotels in recent months has only compounded concerns of a contagion threat within the establishments.
Under the new rule, those in quarantine could have food and other goods delivered, health officials said, but they would have to be left outside hotel rooms and there must be no face-to-face contact.
People requiring a carer during quarantine could do so by seeking approval from the health authorities, and that carer would also need to be quarantined for 14 days.
On Wednesday, the city recorded nine new Covid-19 cases, three of them locally transmitted, taking the overall tally to 5,479, with 108 related deaths.
On the first day of the new quarantine rule, a Post reporter visited three Causeway Bay hotels, among the 19 in the city listed by the Centre for Health Protection as welcoming inbound travellers for quarantine.
One of them, Vela Boutique Hotel, is situated on Morrison Hill Road in the busy shopping district.
A thermometer was placed at one entrance, but the receptionist, sitting behind a counter, did not stop visitors entering the lobby and taking the lift. Once in the lift there were no restrictions on which floor could be accessed.
The receptionist, who declined to be named, later revealed that two of the 12 floors in the building were occupied by quarantined people.
He assured that other guests would not be put on the same floor, adding the hotel was so booked up that only a deluxe room priced above HK$700 was available on Thursday night.
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It was a similar situation down the street at Best Western Hotel Causeway Bay. No inquiries or checks were seen to be made to visitors at the premises.
The receptionist told the Post that more than 70 per cent of the rooms were taken up by those under quarantine, and admitted that he could not guarantee other guests would be on a separate floor. “You have to weigh your own risks,” the unnamed staff member said.
“But we have independent ventilation systems,” he said, without elaborating the mechanism.
“We will also look at CCTV to make sure quarantining quests don’t leave their rooms. In fact, we have reported such incidents to the police, and other guests will also report it if they see the same. We will not go soft on these things.”
Eco Tree Hotel Causeway Bay, on 15 Mercury Street in the district, was the only hotel of those visited that had a security guard in front of the lobby lifts checking people’s identities.
The staff there refused to disclose the occupancy rate of the hotel for those staying with them for quarantine purposes, only saying that other guests would be accommodated on other floors.
All receptionists who talked to the Post were aware of the new rule that banned visitors.
Infectious disease expert Dr Leung Chi-chiu said ideally hotels would have extra staff to check the status of those entering the hotel. He suggested that the government could make enforcement easier by limiting to just a handful the number of hotels allowed to accept such guests.
He also said the rule should hold hotels liable for enforcement failings. “Right now only quarantined people will be punished by law if they breach the rule and allow visitors in.”
Meanwhile, the government announced that the legal framework that enables a tightened rule regulating the number of people in a hotel room would come into effect on Friday. But the date of the implementation of the rule would be decided following meetings between the government and representatives of the hotel sector.
