Omicron variant: Hong Kong to ban non-residents from three more countries to shut out Covid-19 cases
- Japan, Portugal and Sweden will be added to Hong Kong’s list of Group A high-risk countries for Covid-19 after recording cases of the Omicron virus variant
- Hong Kong’s policies are ‘appropriate for now’ and any changes will only come once more data on new variant is gathered, health chief Sophia Chan says
Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee defended the new border-control measures, which she described as stringent enough to contain the spread of the variant, rejecting calls for returning residents also to be denied entry.
One Omicron infection was confirmed in Japan on Tuesday, Portugal detected 13 cases at a football club on Monday while Sweden reported its first such infection that day, meaning all three countries will be added to Hong Kong’s list of Group A high-risk countries for Covid-19, effective Friday.
Under the rules, non-residents cannot enter Hong Kong from Group A countries while city dwellers, who must be fully vaccinated, face a mandatory 21-day quarantine.
On Monday, the government announced that 13 more countries, including Australia and Canada, would be added to the category, meaning that by Thursday 45 would be in Group A, although not all have reported Omicron cases.
Those coming back from destinations where local transmission of the Omicron variant has been identified, or from which cases have been exported to Hong Kong, must serve their first seven days of quarantine at the government’s Penny’s Bay isolation facility.
Chan on Tuesday said authorities would continue to monitor the global situation and make adjustments accordingly.