3,000 guests, staff to begin hotel quarantine in Hong Kong ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit and July 1 celebrations
- Thousands will check into either the Grand Hyatt or Renaissance Harbour View, outgoing leader Carrie Lam checked in on Monday
- Most consuls from EU member countries still deciding whether to join events due to ‘harsh’ restrictions
Nearly 3,000 guests and staff will be placed under hotel quarantine from Wednesday in preparation for a two-day visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover, the Post has learned.
Some officials who decided to “play it safe” have even already started their quarantine. This included outgoing Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and a few other ministers such as security chief Chris Tang Ping-keung, housing secretary Frank Chan Fan and education minister Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, who checked into the Grand Hyatt hotel in Wan Chai on Monday evening.
They have been working under a “closed-loop” arrangement, an unprecedented measure that means officials only travel between government headquarters in Admiralty and the hotel until Wednesday. They are scheduled to take part in celebratory events the next day at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, according to sources.
“Those who go back to the office these days cannot go out for lunch, cannot take public transport and have to avoid large-scale meetings. Issues are discussed via Zoom meeting when necessary,” a government source said.
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Some officials who have itineraries on Thursday will stop going to their offices the day before, as they are due to begin their hotel quarantine.
“From June 29 onwards, everyone will stay in the hotels and will not be allowed to leave or change their rooms. We are allowed to check out at noon on July 1,” another politician, who will be placed in quarantine, told the Post.
Extensive measures have been taken for the celebratory events this week.
For the first time, thousands will be put up in two hotels near the convention centre before the event, ahead of their likely encounter with Xi, who is expected to arrive in Hong Kong on Thursday. This includes top officials, government advisers and pro-Beijing heavyweights, as well as tycoons, university chiefs, statutory bodies’ heads, diplomats and church leaders.
A source familiar with the situation said nearly 3,000 would be placed under hotel quarantine.
But some of those invited were not showing a lot of interest in joining the events, as they found the “closed-loop” arrangement that began on June 23 too “harsh”.
“We find the sanitary restrictions – a one-day quarantine at a designated hotel, daily [polymerase chain reaction, or PCR] tests and only point-to-point transfers between home and office for one week – too stringent,” a Hong Kong-based consul general from a European country told the Post.
He added that most consuls general from European Union countries were still considering whether to attend the July 1 celebrations.
Guests who are joining a possible meeting and photo-taking session on Thursday afternoon with the Chinese president will check into either the Grand Hyatt or Renaissance Harbour View Hotel at noon on Wednesday, where they would have to undergo a two-day quarantine with PCR tests.
For the hundreds who will only take part in the flag-raising ceremony and the swearing-in inauguration ceremony on Friday, they will go into quarantine on Thursday morning. This group includes lawmakers and some members of the Executive Council.
Xi will then go to Shenzhen overnight and return to Hong Kong on Friday. He is expected to officiate at a ceremony to mark the handover anniversary and oversee the swearing-in of incoming chief executive John Lee Ka-chiu and his cabinet at the convention centre.
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Sources also said that different spots in the city, including the Science Park, West Kowloon Cultural District and Hong Kong International Airport, have been preparing for a possible visit by a state leader, but it would be up to Beijing to decide where the leader would eventually go.
Tam Yiu-chung, the city’s sole representative to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, the country’s top legislative body, confirmed that he would be placed in quarantine at the Grand Hyatt on Wednesday afternoon, and would join events on both June 30 and July 1.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute is postponing the release of a survey, after receiving “suggestions from relevant government departments after their risk assessment”, it said in a statement.
The institute said it originally planned to release on Tuesday findings of a survey timed with the handover anniversary, and which contained information such as “popularity figures of the government and five core social indicators”. The survey comes under a “one country, two systems 25-year midterm review” series. It will now release it next Tuesday.
