Hong Kong is reducing the amount of time travelers need to be in hotel quarantine from seven days to three from Friday.
“The seven-day quarantine hotel arrangement will be changed to three days in a quarantine hotel, plus four days of medical supervision at home,” CEO John Lee said at a news conference Monday.
Upon completion of the hotel quarantine, travelers will be able to stay at home or in a hotel for the four days of surveillance. During this time, people will be able to leave their homes, but not enter “places where vaccine passes are actively checked,” Lee said in Cantonese.
That includes bars, pubs, gyms and beauty salons. Also, during the surveillance period, people are not allowed to visit nursing homes, schools and certain medical premises.
“They cannot participate in activities that require the removal of masks,” Lee added. If they test negative on a rapid antigen test, they can take public transportation, go to work and enter shopping malls, he said.
“We need to strike a balance between the level of risk and our economic activity. Where risk can be managed, we want to maintain maximum mobility of people and maintain Hong Kong’s competitiveness,” said Lee.