Coronavirus: Hong Kong to tighten entry requirements for arrivals from seven countries including Japan, Singapore and Malaysia
- Change adds seven days of mandatory isolation for travellers from Singapore, while new requirement for arrivals from six other countries is pre-departure negative test result
- City records just one new Covid-19 infection, an imported case from Indonesia
The government said from Friday, unvaccinated travellers from Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Argentina, Italy, Kenya and the Netherlands, would have to serve 21 days of quarantine at designated hotels and also present proof of a negative coronavirus test conducted 72 hours before boarding their flights.
Vaccinated people must quarantine at government-designated hotels for 14 days and self-monitor for another week, with compulsory testing on the 16th and 19th day. They must also present proof of vaccination and a negative virus test before departing for the city.
The change adds seven days of mandatory isolation for travellers in both groups from Singapore, while the new requirement for arrivals from the remaining six countries is the pre-departure negative test result.
The government on Monday said the decision was taken “in view of the persistent unstable epidemic situation in various overseas places”, as well as the prevalent transmission and outbreaks of cases involving the more transmissible and potentially more serious mutant virus strains.
Those seven countries have seen an uptick of coronavirus cases recently, with Argentina recording as many as 292,103 new infections in the past fortnight. Japan has seen 80,763 cases in the same period, while Singapore has had 367.
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Monday also saw the indefinite suspension for the second time of the quarantine-free travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore, which had been set to launch on May 26.