Coronavirus: Hong Kong will not return to toughest control rules for arrivals, John Lee says, as health officials warn of rising trend in severe cases

Chief executive vows to look into minimising inconvenience for arrivals and reducing seven-day hotel quarantine

Source says a previous requirement where overseas travellers have to undergo an extra PCR test on the third day of arrival will resume on July 8

Reading Time:4 minutes

99+

Hong Kong won’t return to its toughest Covid-19 rules for arrivals, John Lee has said. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Published: 3:06pm, 6 Jul 2022Updated: 11:56pm, 6 Jul 2022

Hong Kong will not return to tougher Covid-19 control measures previously in place for arrivals, the city’s leader has said, despite health authorities warning of a rising trend in coronavirus-related hospitalisations and severe cases.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, however, vowed on Wednesday that the administration would not let caseloads continue to rise, and a source familiar with government policy said a previous requirement, under which overseas travellers had to undergo an extra polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on the third day of arrival, would resume. The measure would come into effect on July 8, the source said.

Lee, at his first question and answer session in the Legislative Council, said: “We should surround the trees that are sick instead of those which are not. One of the goals is to deal with the days for quarantine … it is inappropriate to go back to some very stringent measures.”

An outbound traveller waiting to get tested for Covid-19 at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. Photo: Felix Wong

He said the authorities would use precise methods to screen out uninfected international travellers and minimise inconvenience, as well as look into how the existing seven-day hotel quarantine could be shortened.

Health authorities on Wednesday reported 2,815 coronavirus infections, including 143 imported cases. One additional virus-related death was recorded. The city’s overall coronavirus tally stands at 1,258,840 infections, with 9,406 related fatalities.

Health officials noted an upwards trend in the number of severe cases and hospitalised patients with Covid-19 in past weeks, and warned about the possibility of reinfections caused by new subvariants.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x