Omicron variant: why is mainland China not under Hong Kong’s high-risk group? Accusations of double standards, as 2 cases recorded across border
- Experts say different sets of rules not unusual, as central and city authorities are aligned on zero-Covid stance, while rest of world opens up
- Specialist admits city’s multi-tier classification untenable, recommending 21-day quarantine for countries with community spread, and flight ban if imports arrive
Different rules for different people.
But health experts said the different requirements were expected, citing the zero-Covid policy still held by local authorities and the central government.
Guangdong Covid-19 cases threaten to disrupt Hong Kong-mainland border reopening
The accusations of unfairness and double standards come from residents who have to contend with often unpredictable entry rules, such as the enhanced restrictions imposed on the United States within the Group A list of countries. Returning residents from the US have to serve their first seven days of quarantine in a government facility before completing the remaining two weeks in a designated hotel.
“Places that have chosen to live with the virus will inevitably see Omicron spread through their communities, while China and Hong Kong are the only ones in the world that continue to pursue a zero-Covid strategy and kept imported Omicron cases at just that, imported,” said Dr Leung Chi-chiu, a specialist in respiratory medicine.
Hong Kong will move an overseas country to its Group A high-risk group when an Omicron case, imported or local, is reported there, meaning returning residents will have to undergo 21 days of quarantine.
The city’s top tier is reserved for countries that have seen an Omicron outbreak, or exported such a case to Hong Kong. Besides the US, 12 African countries, including South Africa, are currently in that category.
01:49
First death linked to Omicron in UK as China records its first case of the coronavirus variant
China confirmed its first Omicron infection on Monday, in the port city of Tianjin, involving an asymptomatic arrival from Europe last week. On Tuesday, a 67-year-old man in Guangzhou in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong became the second patient diagnosed with the highly transmissible, heavily mutated variant.
Authorities said the man entered China on November 27 and repeatedly tested negative for Covid-19 during his 14 days in quarantine. He then flew from Shanghai to Guangzhou on December 11.
But so far, Hong Kong authorities have not announced tougher rules for the mainland.
A closer look at 2 Hong Kong schemes for quarantine-free cross-border travel
The city has a separate system for mainland arrivals – the so-called Return2HK and Come2HK schemes. The former allows residents to return and skip quarantine by monitoring their own health at home for seven days if they are vaccinated – and 14 days if they are not – while the latter applies just to Guangdong and Macau, allowing non-residents to do the same.
Localities or cities will be temporarily removed from the scheme if mainland authorities designate them as medium- or high-risk.
As of Tuesday, both Tianjin and Guangzhou are still under both schemes.
Some residents and travellers have taken to social media to blast the differences in treatment. In one group of quarantining travellers, speculation swirled over whether China would be moved to the high-risk category, with some saying politics would prevent that from happening.
One online comment asked to what extent the system “is biased”, eliciting responses such as “some countries are more equal than others”.
06:14
Why is the Omicron variant so concerning? Virologist warns Covid strain could ‘wreak havoc’ in HK
In a statement, the Food and Health Bureau on Tuesday defended the government’s stance, saying the Omicron case in Tianjin was imported, and a “closed-loop arrangement” as well as a joint risk-management system between Hong Kong, Macau and the mainland would align pandemic controls and prevent community spread.
Hong Kong government pandemic adviser Professor David Hui Shu-cheong expressed confidence in the mainland’s approach. “It hasn’t spread to the community, what’s the fear?” he said.
Dr Leung also defended the approach, saying China’s zero-Covid strategy marked it out from the world. But he admitted Hong Kong’s multi-tier system was untenable.
“If one imported case will land a place in high-risk, then Hong Kong would also be on the mainland’s high-risk list after it recorded several Omicron cases from overseas. That’s the same reason why some countries have imposed a travel ban on Hong Kong, even though Hong Kong has maintained zero cases in the community.”
Leung said he believed a better classification would be to impose 21-day quarantine on countries with a community spread of Omicron, and toughen this to a flight ban if the outbreak was large or if cases were exported to the city.
“This would make more sense, as the way things are going now, the whole world will soon be in Hong Kong’s high-risk group so long as they detect just one imported case.”
