Coronavirus: quarantine release for about 2,000 close contacts of variant cases as Hong Kong eases confinement rules
- Residents of buildings in Pok Fu Lam, Quarry Bay and Tsuen Wan – all linked to Covid-19 variants – are among those who can leave isolation centres if they submit to regular testing
- Reduced quarantine periods for inbound travellers to take effect next Wednesday
Health officials also announced on Friday the shortening of mandatory quarantine for inbound passengers, starting next week, with the level of reduction dependent on the risk classification of countries in their recent travel history.
Residents subject to 21-day quarantine orders imposed on buildings linked to mutated strains – including occupants of the Royalton I in Pok Fu Lam, a block at Caribbean Coast in Tung Chung, Kornhill in Quarry Bay and Allway Gardens in Tsuen Wan – can leave the isolation centres in batches on the condition they test negative for the coronavirus.
They will need to be screened four times and complete a period of monitoring their own health, according to Centre for Health Protection (CHP) controller Dr Ronald Lam Man-kin.
Similar rules, also forgoing the need for any form of quarantine, will apply in future instances of variant infections being found in buildings.
All residents of such buildings will have to be tested four times during a self-monitoring period. But those living with an infected person, or staying in environments such as subdivided flats, will have to undergo quarantine, regardless whether they had been fully vaccinated or not.