Coronavirus: Hong Kong imposes 14-day quarantine minimum for all arrivals from medium-risk countries as officials pull plug on Covid-19 antibodies scheme

Government scraps a plan to shorten hotel confinement period for those testing positive for coronavirus antibodies

Carrie Lam apologises to those affected by earlier policy changes, saying authorities were loath to change course ‘on a frequent basis’

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A plan that would have offered shorter quarantine times for visitors who were fully vaccinated and passed antibody tests has been scrapped. Photo: Felix Wong

Tony Cheung,Chan Ho-him,Gigi ChoyandDanny Lee

Published: 2:12pm, 17 Aug 2021Updated: 1:11am, 19 Aug 2021

Anyone flying into Hong Kong from countries in the medium-risk category will have to undergo at least 14 days of quarantine starting from Friday after the government scrapped a plan to shorten the period for those who test positive for Covid-19 antibodies.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Tuesday announced the halt to the antibody programme, the second phase of which was set to take effect on Wednesday and would involve testing on arrival at the airport.

She also apologised to residents affected by an earlier decision to tighten entry restrictions for arrivals from 16 countries, which threw travel plans into disarray for many.

The government issued a statement on Tuesday night saying fully vaccinated people – even those with positive antibody tests – returning to Hong Kong from medium-risk countries would face longer quarantine of 14 days based on an earlier suggestion by the Centre for Health Protection’s scientific committees.

Visitors from those countries who had been vaccinated with both doses would also be allowed to enter Hong Kong from Friday, the statement said, the move coming amid a scramble for little over 10,000 hotel quarantine rooms, triggered by ever-changing quarantine rules.

Effective from Friday, medium-risk countries are all those not classified as falling into the other two categories, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Egypt, Germany, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Romania, Singapore, South Korea, Ukraine and Vietnam.